The Heart of a Champion Prevails

Serena Williams was down and out, two points from losing at 3-5 30-30 on her serve in the 3rd set of the US Open, but after getting at points earlier, and the fighting spirit prevailed.  She won the next two points to hold serve, then won the next four games to her 15th major 6-2 2-6 7-5.  It was a spirited effort from Victoria Azarenka, who served for the match at 5-4 but fell behind in the game and never recovered.  Then she had several game points to force a tiebreak but Serena came through in the end.

It was her 4th US Open title, 6th win of 2012 (tour lead), and 45th overall.  She has now won 5 Aussie Opens, 1 French Open, 5 Wimbledons, and 4 US Opens, and now 3 majors behind Evert and Navratilova (18) but still 7 behind Graf (22).  This was the first US Open since '95 that went 3 sets!  Serena should now win all the player of the year awards for her Wimbledon, US Open, and Olympic titles not to mention her 3 other titles and great record in the second half of the year.

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Novak Djokovic vs. Andy Murray

Murray goes for his first major and a complete split of the four majors, while a Djokovic would likely mean will end the year and number 1 and put him back on top the men's game.

2) Novak Djokovic (SRB) - 9th major final (4th at the US Open), 5-3 record (1-2), last '12 French Open
3) Andy Murray (GBR) - 5th major final (2nd at the US Open), 0-4 record (0-1), 2nd consecutive F

Somewhat surprisingly, Djokovic and Murray have met "only" 14 times before, with Djokovic leading the series 8-6 and 18-15 in sets.  I'm not going to list the full record, but this year they have split 4 meetings:

Aussie Open SF (hard): Djokovic 6-3 3-6 6-7 6-1 7-5
Dubai SF (hard): Murray 6-2 7-5
Miami F (hard): Djokovic 6-1 7-6
Olympic SF (grass): Murray 7-5 7-5

Murray will have an advantage with a day off with the weather, while Djokovic played 7 games on Saturday then 3 sets and a game today.  Murray also took his schedule easy after the Olympics pulling out of the Rogers Cup then losing early in Cincy.  Djokovic, by contrast, made both finals.  I like Murray in this match to break the British drought, perhaps in 4 sets, and make it a real big 4.