US Open Betting / Sean Calvert / 07 September 2008 / Leave a comment

Sean Calvert was at Flushing Meadows yesterday to watch Andy Murray play the best tennis of his career so far and take the upper hand against world number one Rafael Nadal. Rain has stopped proceedings but who will come back the strongest?

The penultimate scheduled day of the 2008 US Open promised to be an absolute classic, with three of the world's top four men in action plus Andy Murray, Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic.

Despite an horrific weather forecast for the New York area, there was no sign of rain by the time the first match, Djokovic v Federer was due to commence.

Djokovic looked like he had spent the previous day praying for a downpour as he looked lethargic and almost disinterested during a first set that Federer dominated and took 6-3.

The world number two was imperious on serve and hit only three unforced errors during a set where his opponent failed to threaten Federer's delivery.

Djokovic's game improved markedly at the start of the second set though and he began to threaten the Federer serve for the first time, breaking in game four to take a 3-1 lead.

There was no sign of the blustering wind that had such an impact on the women's semi finals on Friday, but instead the players had to deal with very humid conditions.

The Serbian kept his lead until game seven, when a poor service game allowed Federer to break back without really doing a great deal other than one delightful backhand down the line.

Djokovic appeared to be going through another poor patch as he had let a 4-1 lead slip to 4-4 and when he served two double faults in the next it looked like set might go the same way as set one.

The world number three held on for the next few games though and suddenly it was Fed serving to stay in the set at 5-6.

The Swiss threw in three unforced errors and found himself three set points down, before taking the next two.

An eminently makeable forehand down the line flew wide though and out of nowhere we were level at a set apiece.

John McEnroe on commentary couldn't believe that Federer had missed it and he also couldn't believe the news that because of the imminent dreadful weather prediction, the schedulers had started Murray v Nadal on Armstrong.

It's always difficult to ascertain just how tired Djokovic is because he always looks exhausted and as the wind picked up and the rain closed in the Serb just about managed to hold off a break point in the opening game of the third set despite appearing to take in huge gulps of air.

He also saved a break point in his next service game and it went all the way to 5-5 again without a break, until Djokovic was put off by one of the morons in the crowd and lost his serve.

The Serb then further cemented his fractious relationship with the Arthur Ashe crowd by gesturing that it was their fault that he lost the game and Federer as calmly as ever served it out for a two one lead.

At this point I switched over to Armstrong for Murray v Nadal, as the Scot had taken the first set 6-2 and had two break points at 1-1 in the second.

Murray, who was sporting some carefully cultivated new whiskers for the occasion, was unable to make it count though and would he live to regret that lost opportunity?

Perhaps and the Scot had break points again in the next Nadal service game, which he also failed to take despite having very decent opportunities.

Mark Petchey in the commentary box was getting very excited about his former charge's chances and reckoned the opening hour of the clash was the best he's ever seen Murray play.

He wasn't far wrong; the number six seed was serving brilliantly and Nadal was barely registering on, let alone threatening the Murray serve and if he ever had a chance of taking Nadal out this was it.

Uncle Toni was looking worried courtside, as Murray earned himself further break points at 5-5 with some scintillating tennis, but Nadal dug in to scramble his way to a hold at 6-5.

The forecast rain still hadn't arrived, but it was on its way and moments later we were at a tie break to decide the second set.

Murray took an early lead, but chose a poor time to serve his first double of the day and the scores were level at 3-3 at the changeover, however Nadal did not look at all comfortable still and a succession of errors handed the set to the Scot.

So, a two set lead for Murray and could he hold his nerve to become the first Brit into the US Open final since Greg Rusedski in 1997, but he didn't make a great start to the third set - dropping his serve immediately.

Back on Ashe, Djokovic was running on fumes at the beginning on the fourth set and once a net cord had intervened to deflect his forehand out and hand Federer the break at 3-2 what little energy remained drained from his legs and the Swiss took the final three games for a place in the final - again.

It was handy timing from the defending champion, as the rain closed in and put an end to proceedings shortly afterwards, with Murray 3-2 down (with a break) on Armstrong.

There was no chance of the women's singles final taking place on Saturday and that will now be played at around 2 am on Monday morning after the completion of Murray v Nadal.

Can the Scot become the first British man since Fred Perry in 1936 to life the US Open trophy?

He's going to have to see off a determined challenge from Nadal today and then a refreshed Federer, who's no doubt got his feet up today, to do it.

Murray is currently [5.0] to achieve that feat, while Nadal is [4.5] and Federer of course a big favourite now at [1.71].