Novak Djokovic dashed Roger Federer's US Open dreams for a second year in succession, saving two match points as the two played out one of the all-time classic Grand Slam matches.
They say history repeats itself and Federer will be left with a nasty taste of deja vu for many weeks and months to come after a heartbreaking 6-7, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 loss to his great rival.
Tennis writers all over the world have been scouring the dictionaries for every superlative available to describe Novak Djokovic's results this year but we'll have to take into a whole new seam of metaphors just to describe this sensational encounter.
The first two sets witnessed Federer at his very best, striking his single handed backhand as he's never done before. Djokovic looked bereft for ideas and helpless to Federer's brilliance and he found himself facing a mountain.
However, Federer plays his tennis on the edge and these days he can go off the boil as he did in the early stages of the third set. Djokovic grabbed the lifeline, upped his own game and suddenly he was playing like a world number one, striking the ball with the kind of power most professionals can only dream of.
Djokovic rattled through the third and fourth sets and appeared to have the match on a plate. However suddenly the momentum switched again. The onset of a fifth set saw Federer's game return. From shanking the ball all over Arthur Ashe stadium, suddenly he was hitting that magical forehand with poise and precision. A dodgy service game from Djokovic and Federer was serving for the match.
With the crowd whipped into a frenzy, Djokovic almost seemed resigned to his fate but from nowhere he found probably the shot of the season. Federer brought up two match points only for Djokovic to unleash a thunderbolt of a return which fizzed by him. The Swiss looked rattled and within no time Djokovic had broken back and the momentum was decisively with him.
Federer looked a broken man at the end but Djokovic's incredible season continues. Few would bet against him picking up a first US Open title now on Monday night.
