Novak Djokovic, Serbia, chases down a shot by Mikhail Youzhny, Russia, during a quarterfinal match at the 2013 U.S. Open tennis tournament, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2013, in New York. AP
NEW YORK — It’s easy to glance at the matchups in the U.S. Open men’s semifinals and figure that Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will be playing each other for the championship come Monday.
Djokovic, after all, is seeded No. 1, and Nadal is No. 2. Djokovic owns six Grand Slam titles, Nadal 12.
Each already won the U.S. Open once, with Nadal beating Djokovic in the 2010 final, and Djokovic beating Nadal a year later. They’ve met in five major finals in all.
And their semifinal opponents Saturday? Well, Djokovic’s 14th consecutive Grand Slam semifinal is against No. 9 Stanlisas Wawrinka, who will be making his debut at this stage of a major tournament. Nadal plays No. 8 Richard Gasquet, who was 1-15 in fourth-round Grand Slam matches until this week.