Federer Goes Down in U.S. Open Upset
This has to be one of the most exciting U.S. Open tennis tournaments in years with many upsets and surprises. However, the biggest surprise of all was Nolan Djokovic's unseating of the godlike Roger Federer in the semi-finals on Saturday night. It took five sets and the young, 23-year-old Serbian had to fight off two match points, but in the end he was the king slayer.
Putting an end to the Federer Express was on many a players' mind and many thought that Robin Soderling, the powerful Swedish player who clobbered Federer in the French Open quarterfinals, would be the one to do it.
However, in the U.S. Open semis, which had gale-like winds, Soderling seemed unnerved by conditions and couldn't produce more than one ace. He also blew an overhead that would have ended a set in his favor. The wind does tricky things for tennis players and it takes nerves of steel to deal with it. However, Federer (of Switzerland) looked like he was playing in an enchanted clearing. He thundered one ace after another past the increasingly frustrated Soderling. It just makes you wonder if Federer plays in a parallel universe.
Other potential giant slayers; U.S.' Andy Roddick, who nearly took Wimbledon away from Roger in 2008 in an epic final, was bounced early by some unseeded whos-it who lost in the next round. Poor Andy; he's getting long in the tooth for this kind of humiliation. Also Andy Murray (Great Britain) lost early.
Few saw Djokovic coming, because everyone was set up for a Rafael Nadal-Roger Feder final. That's not going to happen now. And to make matters more equitable, it rained in New York on Sunday, giving Djokovic a rest from his bruising five-setter. The grand final match is now set for 4 p.m. EDT Monday in Flushing Meadows, New York.
On the women's side, there were some odd flubs too. Natalia Sharapova (Russia) went down early to Caroline Wozniacki of Germany, and Serena Williams, who's won the Open several times, didn't even play. However her sister, Venus, went far and provided the best match of the women's side. Her quarterfinal matchup with defending champion Kim Clijsters of Belgium, was one of those nail biters from start to finish. Venus won her first U.S. Open when she was just a teenager, and now is 30, trying to prove that she still has the chops. No doubt she does, as she sent serves of 127 mph screaming across the net. She took the first set and it looked like she had it tided up until she started making goofs. Clijsters broke her serve. She broke back. Back and forth. Then in what should have been the deciding moment of a tie break, she hit two double faults followed by a missed overhead. Clisters took the set. Still it was neck and neck the whole third set. Blink and you'd miss the determining winning shots. Clijsters took it.
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