September 08, 2008	Monday	Ramazan 07, 1429

NEW YORK, Sept 7: Roger Federer stormed into his fifth successive US Open final on Saturday but the rest of the day’s play was washed out, tossing the last weekend of the Open into disarray.

Organisers were grilled about the scheduling as Federer, in sublime form with a 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 win over Novak Djokovic, was made to wait 24 hours before knowing his challenger after the second semi-final was suspended by rain.

Sixth-seeded Briton Andy Murray was in the driver’s seat to book a date with the Swiss maestro, leading top seed Rafael Nadal 6-2, 7-6, 2-3 when the remnants of Tropical Storm Hanna hit Flushing Meadows.

The women’s final, scheduled for Saturday night between twice champion Serena Williams and second seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia was postponed until Sunday night. The men’s final has been slotted in for Monday.

Organisers came under fire after the elements conspired against them and Nadal and Murray were forced to abandon their match at 2:48 pm local time (1848 GMT).

The Nadal-Murray tilt was shifted to adjacent Louis Armstrong court to run concurrently with Federer’s match in hopes of completing both semi-finals. But it did not begin until one hour 40 minutes after Federer-Djokovic started.

Since the second men’s semi-final could not be completed on day 13 of the hardcourt major, the tournament will now spill into a third Monday. Four-times champion Federer took advantage of his window of opportunity by producing his best performance of the tournament, hammering home 20 aces and ripping 51 winners in an emphatic two hour 45 minute victory over the third-seeded Serb.

Third-seeded Djokovic, the Australian Open champion who has complained of a catalogue of injuries during the tournament, seemed listless at the start.

“Roger was playing good,” the 21-year-old Serb said. “He deserved to win, absolutely. I was just a little disappointed from my side that I wasn’t physically able to challenge him.”

Federer remained on track to become the first man to win five successive Opens since Bill Tilden in 1924.

“Who do I prefer to play? I prefer the trophy, that’s what I prefer,” said Federer, deposed as world number one last month by Nadal after more than 4-1/2 years at the top spot.

“But I guess I would have to say Rafa because we’ve had such great battles over the year. Wimbledon was unbelievable so I hope we can have another one.”

Federer’s wish did not look likely to be granted as Murray belted his way to a two-sets advantage.

Nadal had not lost to the Scot in five previous meetings but the 21-year-old Briton was on song, displaying the form that had led him to three hard court titles this year.

Serving masterfully and dominating play from the baseline with his deeper groundstrokes, Murray swept through the first set in just over half an hour before clinching the second 7-5 in a tiebreak. Overall, he racked up 44 winners.—Reuters