Novak Djokovic will play for his third US Open title after surviving a tight and sometimes bizarre semi-final match against Gael Monfils on Friday afternoon. The two-time US Open champion (2011, 2015) prevailed 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 on Arthur Ashe Stadium to reach his seventh US Open final.

Djokovic also extended his dominance over Monfils. The Serbian now leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 13-0. “It was a strange match, as it always is, I guess, when you play Gael, who is a very unpredictable player,” Djokovic said. “So it was a good win for me today.”

With the win, Djokovic has now reached seven of the past eight Grand Slam tournament finals, his only absence Wimbledon earlier this year when he fell in the third round to American Sam Querrey. The top seed will try to win the 13^th Grand Slam title of his career and the eighth title of his 2016 on Sunday.

It wasn’t easy getting through the tricky Monfils on Friday. Djokovic could not have envisioned a better start to the match. After 13 minutes, he led 4-0, mostly from putting the ball in play and letting a nervy Monfils make mistakes. The Frenchman would finish the first set with 16 unforced errors, including five double faults.

But with Djokovic serving at 5-1, Monfils changed his tactics and started slicing nearly everything back, electing to hit through the ball only when Djokovic approached the net. The change rattled Djokovic, who double faulted to get broken.

“I was completely caught off guard when he just stood there and chipped the ball back and didn’t do much. If I would get to the net he would go for the passing shot and hit some impossible gets and balls,” Djokovic said.

Soon Monfils was back in the set at 5-3. “Why… stay and lose 6-0 and not change anything?” Monfils said. “Definitely, I try to get in his head. Try to create something new for him to see… When the guy is too good, playing clean and you’re playing very bad… you need to change. At the end, that’s why I think it was necessary, and I almost got back in the first set.”

But Djokovic restored order and had claimed the opener in 36 minutes. It was the first set Monfils had lost all tournament long in Flushing Meadows. He had been just the 10^th player in the past 25 years to reach the US Open semi-finals without dropping a set.

In the second set, Djokovic upped his level. He won almost 90 per cent of his service points (16/18) and was perfect at the net (6/6). It looked as if he would cruise into the final in straight sets. “Everything was working,” Djokovic said.

But Monfils came alive in the third set, producing some of the tennis that had helped him win 15 consecutive sets in New York. The 30 year old also rallied the crowd behind him. After nailing a backhand winner at 2-2, “La Monf” let out a yell that had fans jumping to their feet.

Serving for the set at 5-3, he produced more excitement. Monfils fell behind 0/40 but crawled his way into the game and had a set point. Djokovic, upset at his missed opportunities, ripped his shirt before Monfils served on set point and crushed a backhand winner up the line to more cheers from the crowd.

“The momentum shifted. He felt his chance was there. He got it. Crowd got into it,” Djokovic said.

All of a sudden it seemed like the match could go the distance. Monfils, who had hit 27 unforced errors in the first two sets, had played more controlled tennis in the third, hitting only four unforced errors.

But the defending champion Djokovic quickly grabbed control of the fourth set, breaking to get to 4-2 and breaking once more – his eighth break of the match – to move into the final. “I just managed to hold my nerves and be patient and close out the match in good fashion,” Djokovic said.

In Sunday’s final, he will face either Swiss Stan Wawrinka or Japanese Kei Nishikori. Djokovic leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with both players: Wawrinka, 19-4; and Nishikori, 10-2.

Mate Pavic entered the 2016 US Open without a mixed doubles partner. One week later, the 23-year-old Croatian is leaving with the trophy.

Pavic captured his first Grand Slam title on Friday, teaming with Laura Siegemund for the US Open mixed doubles crown. The Croatian-German duo completed a ruthless run in Flushing Meadows, not dropping a set en route to lifting the trophy.

The Split native signed up for the competition as “Pavic and looking”, having not secured Siegemund as a partner until just prior to the draw being made. In the final, the tandem upset seventh seeds Rajeev Ram and Coco Vandeweghe 6-4, 6-4 on Arthur Ashe Stadium, striking 30 winners and just 12 unforced errors. They converted three of six break chances, while denying four of five faced. They took the decisive lead at 4-3 in the second set and eventually converted their second match point after one hour and 13 minutes.

“It still has to settle in a little bit,” said Pavic. “I’m still not feeling it at the moment. But like she said, it was a great week for us. Maybe the story of how we ended up playing together helped a little bit, because we had no expectations at all. We were just not sure if we were going to play or not. We played all the matches very solid, very good. It was a fun week.”

A five-time doubles champion on the ATP World Tour with Michael Venus, Pavic is two spots off his career-high No. 34 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings. He is enjoying his best season at age 23, following titles on the hard courts of Auckland, Montpellier and Marseille, in addition to a grass-court crown in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

“I had a good year so far,” Pavic added. “I won four [ATP World Tour titles]. So we’ll see. I hope to continue like that and get my ranking up. My goal is to be Top 30 by the end of the year and get into the majors and Masters 1000s and all these events. We will see how it goes.”
 

In the fifth of a special series of interviews with Roger Federer at home in Switzerland, the 35 year old talks about how and why he came to the decision to curtail his 2016 season after Wimbledon.

It is a decision that Federer labels one of the biggest of his career, but with the support of his family and team, hopes it will enable him to play for several more years on the ATP World Tour.