US Open Update

As expected, Serena and Azarenka made their way through the women's draws and will meet in the final.  On the men's side, Djokovic and Nadal will renew their rivalry after Djokovic survived Wawrinka in the 5th set.  Djokovic is assured of retaining the no. 1 ranking at least through the US Open but one would think he will need to win the title to have any hope of holding off Nadal for the year end no. 1 ranking.

So two of the better rivalries of the past couple years will play out again in a major final.  Serena and Nadal hope to continue amazing years while Djokovic and Azarenka, the Aussie Open champions, hope to revive what was missing in the middle part of the year.

Nadal leads the head-to-head over Djokovic 21-15 but it is 11-6 Djokovic on hard courts.  It will be their 6th meeting in major final, there Djokovic holds a 3-2 edge but they have split 2 meetings in the US Open final.  But due to Nadal's undefeated record this year on hard courts and really his amazing year all the way through the season, save Wimbledon, I like the Spaniard to win his 13th major title, which would place him 3rd on the all time list.

Serena leads the head-to-head over Azarenka 12-3 but of course Azarenka has beaten the world no. 1 twice this year.  On hard courts the Serena's advantage is reduced to 7-3.  They have met just once in a major final, last year's US Open with Serena winning 7-5 in the 3rd after the Belarussian served for the championship.  Azarenka has now made the last four hard court major finals.  This is a tough match to call but I think Azarenka will pull it off in 3 tightly contested sets to win her 3rd major.

Enjoy the finals!