Week Two US Open

       In the earlier hours of Tuesday morning Rafael Nadal joined the ranks of the all-time greats of tennis as he beat Novak Djokovic to win the US Open and complete his set of Grand Slam titles.  Rafael Nadal became the seventh man to complete the Grand Slam, 4th in the open era.  Late on Saturday Kim Clijsters beat Vera Zvonareva to defend the title she also won at Flushing Meadows in 2005 and 2009.


      Rafael Nadal had not lost a set going into the final and with only three of his sets being won by tie-breakers, all of three of those coming in the first two rounds.  As the final got under way he didn't look like he was going to lose one. Djokovic was the slower out of the blocks and looked exhausted after the lengthy first point of the match, hinting at an ankle problem after dropping serve straight away, some errors from Nadal handed Novak the fourth game of the match.  But Rafa regained the break immediately in an epic fifth game that saw five break points slip by before he cracked a huge forehand winner on the sixth. 

      Play then went with serve until Rafa probably played his worst service game of the fortnight handing Novak a 3-1 lead from a break to love. Djokavic's forehand then came good like it did against Roger Federer but a sloppy service game let Rafa back in to the game.  The match was at 4-4 30-30 when the anticipated rain came down and forced a two hour delay. The Serb served out on the resumption and then levelled the match with an imperious return at Nadal's feet in game 12.

       Djokovic could not maintain that level and Nadal came back at the start of the crucial third set, with a cross-court backhand helping him to break for 2-1.  As his opponent began to look weary, Nadal created opportunity after opportunity to increase his lead, but when a wayward backhand flew long in game eight he had missed 17 of 21 break points.  Nadal held his nerve at 5-4, 30-30, with an ace and a service winner to take the third set.

       Novak had nothing left in the tank and Nadal broke twice in the final set and five and a half hours after they started, Nadal finally stood at championship point, and his place in history was secured when Djokovic sent a forehand long.  Rafa has no won the last three Grand Slams if he wins in Australia he will become the first man, in the open era, to win a Non-calendar year Grand Slam (four consecutive majors regardless of year).  It is also the first time in 46 years that two, still competing, players have completed the Grand Slam set.

       Defending champion Kim Clijsters thrashed Vera Zvonareva in 59 minutes to win her third US Open title at Flushing Meadows in New York.  The 27-year-old Belgian, who won last year following a spell in retirement, defeated Russian seventh seed Zvonareva 6-2 6-1.  In a desperately one-sided final, Clijsters broke twice in each set.  Kim Clijsters has now 27 out of her last 28 matches at the US Open.

     Well I predicted wins for Rafael Nadal and Caroline Wozniacki and I got one right and Wozniacki will be disappointed with the loss to Vera Zvonareva after Zvonareva's poor performance in the final.