Federer enters his fifth consecutive US Open final

New York: Former world number one Swiss tennis star Roger Federer, looking for his first Grand Slam title of the year, overcame Serbian Novak Djokovic in four sets, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2, to enter the US Open final for the fifth consecutive year.

Federer is a victory away from his fifth US Open and 13th Grand Slam title and extended his run of victories at Flushing Meadows to 33 as he made to his 13th final in the last 14 majors.

Federer, who has never been beaten in a semi-final or final here, is after American Pete Sampras's record of 14 Grand Slam titles.

Federer, who lost to Djokovic in the Australian Open semis in January, upped the tempo in the last two sets after taking the first set with flawless display of stroke-making and then dropping the second.

An early break gave Federer the first set, but Djokovic came back raising his game a notch higher to take the second set.

The Swiss was back in business in the third and one break, in the 11th game, was enough for him to go two sets to one up. A clearly jaded Djokovic was never in the fourth set and Federer seized the opportunity to produce some excellent serves and impeccable groundshots to break twice and a tired Serb meekly gave it up.

In the fourth set Federer served four aces in the sixth game and another one in the eight to completely bamboozle Djokovic. In all, he served 20 aces in the match which was a repeat of last year's final and in which he clearly looked the better player.

Federer has not lost here since Argentine David Nalbandian beat him in the fourth round in 2003.

Federer made no secret of his happiness when he said he was excited to be playing in another final and hoped to win it. For him, the No. 2 seed said, winning the Open her meant a hell of a lot.

In the finals, Federer would meet the winner of the other semi-final between world number one Spaniard Rafael Nadal and No six Andy Murray of Scotland.

In the final, Federer will play a player who has a head-to-head edge with him. Murray is ahead of him 2-1 and Nadal has a 12-6 record against Federer. He had lost to Nadal in both the French Open and Wimbledon finals this year.