NEW YORK, Sept. 12-- Top seed Novak Djokovic captured his third major title the year at the US Open on Monday by dismissing second seed Rafael Nadal 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-1 at Flushing Meadows. A year after Nadal won three major titles, and four years after Roger Federer last did the same, Djokovic has now joined the club of six as the finest men's single season in Open Era history. He won the Australian Open over Andy Murray in the final and beat Nadal in the Wimbledon final. Novak Djokovic of Serbia holds his trophy after winning the men's singles final against Rafael Nadal of Spain at the US Open tennis championships in New York, the United States, Sept. 12, 2011. Djokovic won 3-1 in the final to claim the title on Monday. Djokovic beat Nadal in 4 hours 10 minutes. The win made Djokovic 64-2 this year, gave him his first US Open title and also placed him among the all-time greats. The Serb maintained an all-win record against Nadal this year, all six encounter from the tournament finals. Overall, this was Djokovic's fourth major title. His first was at the Australian Open in 2008. Djokovic converted 11 of 26 break points he imposed while Nadal made only six of 14 of that. Djokovic hit seven aces, five more than his Spaniard opponent. The Serb did commit more unforced errors, 14 more than Nadal, but he well covered the deficit with 55 winners to Nadal's 32. Nadal, the defending champion, said, "Obviously I am disappointed now. This guy is doing unbelievable things." Then he looked toward Djokovic and said, "What you did this year is probably impossible to repeat, so well done." |