So the final for the U.S. Open is set and Nadal didn’t make it after all. After all the talk about Rumble in NY, and how Federer Nadal final was inevitable, Murray stunned Nadal in 4 sets to have the golden opportunity of winning his first grand slam. Murray will now go to the final with a winning record against Roger Federer and should go on to pick up his first slam.

Final Analysis: Federer has played heroically this year. He wasn’t expected to make it far but he has. But Murray has just beaten the best player in the world, and he has the game to beat Federer as he has shown in the past. As much as I like Federer, the time is now for Murray. Murray will take his chance and win it in 4 sets.

What a day for men’s tennis last night at the U.S. Open. First up we had Novak Djokovic going against Tommy Robredo in a match that looked to be lopsided before it started. But Tommy Robredo didn’t get the script and pushed Novak all the way to 5 sets before sucumbing. He had some very tough words for Novak afterwards, accusing Novak of cheating. 

Federer was up next and he must have been watching Novak closely as he was almost knocked out the very same way Djokovic was close to. He survived in 5 sets against, get this, Igor Andreev. While he is still in the tournament, this U.S. Open is looking awfully similiar to the Australian Open 2008. So I do expect Federer to fall in the semis yet again, against Djokovic or Roddick.

Roddick had the simplest days against Gonzalez. Historically, Gonzo has never fared well against big servers such as Roddick and Karlovic, and he was broken so many times last night that I lost count. He did however win seven games in 3 sets, which is one more than I thought he would win.

Davydenko was not as lucky as the three above. He lost to Gilles Muller in 4 sets, and he choked big time in the tie-break. Davydenko has had a tough year, but he was my pick to upset Federer in the quarters. Unfortunately, all the issues caught up with him and he lost his focus against Muller. Gilles Muller is good but he is not that good to beat the soon to be former No. 5 in the world that easily.

So far, Roddick and Murray have been the most impressive players in the tournament, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they play on Sunday for the right to raise the U.S. Open trophy. 

What did you think of the matches last night? Did Djokovic feigned his injury? Should he be fined? 

There are a lot of people who play tennis around the world. We have a 12 times grand slam champion. A bunch of former world No. 1s and grand slam winners who will be playing at the U.S. Open. But there is only one question that matters: who can stop Nadal? I thought before the Olympics that Djokovic would be the one stopping him, but now I see that beating Nadal in a best of 5 sets matches is absolutely difficult and will take a superhuman effort. Guys like Djokovic, Federer, Blake, or even Murray may want to disagree, but at this point, the new No. 1 has so much confidence that he goes in every match as a hot favorite. Now if he gets injured, that’s a whol other story but if Nadal plays his best, there will be no one that can stop Nadal. As far as Federer is concerned, he may have to think about his plans for next year already. With his confidence in an all time low, he has absolutely no chance of beating Nadal, and unless Nadal gets Djokovic in the semis, I can’t see how Federer can win this tournament.

Early predictions: Nadal, Federer, Djokovic, Murray in the semis. Winner: Nadal (against any of the other three regardless of the draw).