NEW WORLD ISSUES

US Open 2009 results tennis Federer to face Djokovic in semifinals. Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are set to face each other in the US Open semifinals. Roger Federer who was just able to reach the semifinals must be prepared fully to fight another powerful opponent after withstanding the onslaught by Robin Soderling. Twenty two year old Serbian player Novak Djokovic is a powerful opponent who is capable to make any upset in the tournament.

He has done this in the past and also in a grand slam semifinals. He won his first Grand Slam singles title at the 2008 Australian Open.

After beating World No. 1 and defending champion Roger Federer in the semi-finals, Djokovic defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final, becoming the first player representing Serbia to win a Grand Slam singles title and the youngest player in the open era to have reached the semifinals of all four Grand Slam events.

He was the runner-up at the 2007 US Open and won the bronze medal in singles representing Serbia at the 2008 Olympic Games. He won the Tennis Masters Cup in 2008 and has won four Masters Series tournaments.

He started playing tennis at the age of four, and was spotted by Yugoslav tennis legend Jelena Genčić at the age of eight, who stated: "This is the greatest talent I have seen since Monica Seles."

At 12 years old, he spent three years at Nikola Pilić's tennis academy in Munich, Germany, and at age 14, his international career began, winning European championships in singles, doubles, and team competition.

It must be stressed that this is the third straight year they have met in New York and when they face each other in the men’s semifinals Saturday, it will be the sixth meeting between the two stars since the 2008 Australian Open.

In those six meetings, the record between the familiar foes is an even 3-3 (and 8-4 in Federer’s favor in their total meetings) but in Flushing Meadows, it has been the world No. 1 Federer who has come out on top. Their first meeting at the US Open was the 2007 final – which was Djokovic’s first career Grand Slam final – a match Federer won in straight sets for the title. They met again last year in the semifinals, which Federer won in four sets on his way to his fifth straight US Open title.

Both players know just what the other brings to the table when they meet on Saturday with mutual respect for each other’s games. Federer and Djokovic have been playing some of their best tennis in New York. Neither player has been pushed to five sets and they each have been pushed to four sets only twice.

In his quarterfinal win over Robin Soderling, Federer played as well has he has all year, especially in the first two sets, winning 6-0, 6-3. He was never broken in the match and nailed 28 aces to go with 64 winners. Soderling increased his level of play in the last two sets, pushing Federer to remain at his best.

“(It is) obviously a tough match,” Federer said of facing Djokovic. “I think he’s done well to come through. Getting through to a semifinal stage of a Slam it’s just getting there, and then hopefully saving your best for last. I think he’s put himself in this position.”

In the third round, Djokovic rebounded to defeat American Jesse Witten after losing the first set and then dominated Radek Stepanek in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals.

In the quarters, he fought past No. 11 Fernando Verdasco in a tiebreak to win the first set and after letting the Spaniard dominate him in the second set 6-1, Djokovic bounced back to win the next two. It was not a clean match, as he had 41 unforced errors to 32 winners, but had a very effective serve, winning 71 percent of his first serves.