Federer at home in US Open final

NEW YORK - Two years ago, when the USTA National Tennis Center was renamed in honor of Billie Jean King, the four-time US champion announced to the assembled throng, "Mi casa es su casa, my house is your house, this is our house."

What a bunch of hooey. This is Roger Federer's house. At least for now.

Playing with a sense of urgency, both to beat the imminent rain that eventually postponed the other semifinal between top-seeded Rafael Nadal and fifth seed Andy Murray - with Murray up by two sets and Nadal up by a break in the third - and to prove he is not quite a has-been, second-seeded Federer dis played a brilliant combination of slap-happy forehands and bull's-eye serves to pick apart third-seeded Novak Djokovic, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2, and reach his fifth consecutive US Open final.

Federer has won the previous four US Opens, and should he win again, he would become the first man since Big Bill Tilden to capture five straight US championships. Tilden won six consecutive times from 1920-25.

While the USTA made the decision to move up the Federer-Djokovic semifinal to 11 a.m. from its scheduled noon start in light of the expected rain and wind from Tropical Storm Hanna, officials did not move the semi between Nadal and Murray to the smaller Louis Armstrong Stadium until 12:40 p.m., after Federer and Djokovic had split the first two sets.

Fans from the top level fled Ashe Stadium to get closer to the court on Armstrong, while some 100 others opted instead to climb to the top to view both courts at once. Several hundred fans who initially were turned away from Armstrong because of overcrowding chanted outside the gate, "Let us in," and "We want a refund."

Nadal and Murray were sidelined after 2 hours 1 minute. Murray had won the first two sets, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5), but Nadal was up a break at 3-2 in the third.

Murray played fantastic tennis, serving 17 aces to Nadal's four and hitting 44 winners to a mere 19 for the Spaniard. Murray, a 21-year-old Scotsman playing in his first major semifinal, won the second-set tiebreaker when Nadal committed two backhand errors.

Within an hour after the players had trudged off to the locker room, after it became clear the rain would not abate, the remainder of play for the day and evening was canceled.

The Nadal-Murray semifinal will resume at 4 p.m. today, preceded by the women's doubles final between Cara Black-Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond-Samantha Stosur. The women's final between second-seeded Jelena Jankovic and fourth-seeded Serena Williams, originally scheduled for last night, will begin at 9 tonight. The men's final will be tomorrow afternoon at 5.

It is the first time since 1987 that a US Open final has been pushed to a Monday. That year, top-seeded Ivan Lendl beat No. 3 Mats Wilander, 6-7 (7-9), 6-0, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, in 4 hours 47 minutes before an early-afternoon crowd to give Lendl his third straight US title. But with Armstrong Stadium less than half-full that day, the atmosphere was ghostly.

Through the first set yesterday, Federer was merely devastating. Cracking forehand winner after forehand winner, he lost just 4 points on serve and did not commit a single unforced error. He won the set in just 25 minutes with two aces and yet another blistering forehand on set point.

Djokovic did break for a 4-1 lead in the second set, but Federer broke back for 4-4, before the 21-year-old Serb broke again for the set when the 27-year-old Swiss made a pair of unforced backhand errors. But when Federer broke Djokovic at 5-5 in the third, it seemed clear that it wasn't just the serve that he broke. The fourth set concluded with raindrops dotting the court.

"I think the way I played the first set was the key moment," said Federer, who was playing a record 18th consecutive semifinal of a major and won his 33d straight match at Flushing Meadows; his last loss here was to David Nalbandian in the round of 16 in 2003.

"I had a feeling he was looking a little weary, a little bit tired. I had a feeling that I broke his will as well when I got the third set. I think he let his head hang a little bit."

"I think he deserved to win, absolutely," said Djokovic, who was a finalist here last year to Federer and then beat him en route to his first major championship at the Australian Open in January. "In the important moments, he served it out really well. He didn't give me a chance because he really served well, so I wasn't able to get in the point."

So Federer gets two days to recover before the final, while the winner of the Nadal-Murray match will have less than 24 hours. Tournament director Jim Curley acknowledged that the schedule isn't ideal.

"Clearly, the integrity of the competition comes first," said Curley, "but there are other factors, like our broadcast partners and the 23,000 people who came to see the No. 1, 2, 3, and 6 players in the world."

Arlen Kantarian, CEO of Professional Tennis for the USTA, then unveiled a drawing of a lightweight, translucent retractable roof the USTA is thinking of erecting over Ashe Stadium.

The $100 million project, still in the earliest stages of consideration, would not be ready in time for next year.

"Considering that we've had nine canceled sessions in the last 20 years and one in the last two years," said Kantarian, "it's hard to justify spending this kind of money. But with the growth of the tournament, it seems to be a question of when, not if."