Roger Federer has found his game. He's playing confidently, elegantly and has reestablished himself as the player to beat in this tournament. With the rain holding off for just long enough, Federer outlasted Novak Djokovic in four sets, taking the last set 6-2.

Djokovic, who started to find his own game in the second set, uncharacteristically unraveled toward the end of the match; he started rushing his points, stopped chasing balls and had the look of a guy who couldn't wait to get out of New York. His post-match presser is going to be interesting.

At the end of the match, Mary Jo Fernandez asked 4-time U.S. Open champ Roger Federer who he'd rather see in the finals: Rafa or Andy Murray. He didn't dodge the question.

"I'll say Rafa," he said.

Please bring it on.  

Well, this is going to be an interesting day!

Today, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic square off at 11am (promptly!) at Ashe. Nadal and Murray follow, though the USTA allows the possibiltiy that they may play on Armstrong.

We thought we retired that court four days ago, but with the possibility of squeezing the men's finals and the women's finals on the same day is too tempting for the USTA. And they may play both men's semis at the same time.

This is something the USTA has never faced over the last four decades, and here comes a ridiculously insane day of tennis.

Will they get it through?

Boo, Hanna!

The USTA just released two contingency plans if it rains tomorrow.

Scenario I:  If both the men's semifinals and the women's final are rained out:

Men's Semifinals, 1pm and 4pm on Sunday, ESPN2 and CBS

Women's Final, 9pm on Sunday, CBS

Men's Final, 5pm on Monday, CBS

Scenario II: If men's semfinals are completed on Saturday, and women's final is rained out:

Singles Final (TBD women or men), 4pm on Sunday, CBS

Singles Final (TBD women or men), 9pm on Sunday, CBS 

Serena Williams only need an hour-and-a-half to defeat Dinara Safina in straight sets 6-3, 6-2. Williams really just let Safina implode: the Russian had 41 unforced errors, and won only 29 percent of points off her second serve.

After the match, Venus Williams was waiting for her kid sister outside the women's locker room with Hank Kuehne. An absolutely elated Arlen Kantarian, the CEO of the USTA, strolled by and tapped Venus Williams arm and then began clapping his hands. He gave her a thumbs up, and smiled ear to ear.

It's the first time the USTA has been able to feature a Williams sister in the Open final since 2002.

And it looks like that primetime final will be even more primetime: If rain hits, there's a good chance that match will be on Sunday night at 9 p.m. on CBS.

Everyone is saying that this is Serena's tournament to lose, but is that fair?

Serena has lost to both Dinara Safina and Jelena Jankovic this year. She lost to Safina at the Qatar Telecom German Open, a match which ended in a third-set tiebreaker. And she lost to Jankovic at the Australian Open in straight sets (though Serena has also recently beaten her, at the Sony Ericsson Open).

Safina and Serena are underway now at Ashe, and Safina is up a break. So there.

The occasionally gloomy Jelena Jankovic is headed to her first Grand Slam final after defeating Elena Dementieva 6-4, 6-4, in a sloppy, nervous match. In total, there were 8 breaks of serve and 66 unforced errors.

Jelena Jankovic calmly strolled to the locker room after the match--generally a moment heavy in emotions--like it was an easy third-round win. Dinara Safina, who is about to play Serena Williams for the other spot in the finals, was in the hallway and tried to stop Jankovic and congratulate her, but Jelena was too spaced out to notice. Then, just as she was entering the women's locker room door, Jankovic screamed to no one in particular: "Get me one of those protein drinks!"

Someone mumbled something back.

"No, I'll be out soon!" she replied.

The lady knows what she wants.

For all the dismal boredom of this year's women's draw, the talk of crazy upsets among the females, and the theory that Serena has this one locked up, the women's semifinals look...surprisingly legit.

3 of the top 5 seeds will play in semifinal matches on the women's side, the same as the men's side. And these are four players at the top of their game: they've only dropped 3 sets between them so far this tournament, a remarkable statistic over a total of 20 matches. Serena is no sure thing, though her power will be effective against Dinara Safina. And Dementieva vs. sunshine-tastic Jankovic is an excellent matchup.

So while the women may seem to lack drama and rivalry, they don't lack for good players or good tennis at the end of this Open.

For the last few days everyone in Flushing has been whispering about Tropical Storm Hanna. Right now, weather.com is calling for an 80 percent chance of rain tomorrow, and that there could be up to 1 inch of rain--more than enough to ensure no tennis.

Super Saturday is a huge day at the Open: both men's semifinal matches and the women's final are played. That's about eight hours worth of coverage alone. If it all has to be played on Sunday there are several problems. CBS only has a 4pm to 7pm slot available for tennis; 1 to 4pm is used for football, so coverage may inevitably have to be farmed back out to USA.  read more »

Andy Roddick said that his comments about Novak Djokovic's various injuries were all a big joke.

"Listen, I joke all the time. I don't think anybody in their right mind takes me serious. I think it's very clear when I give a serious answer and when I don't give a serious answer."

Well, maybe not.

"I don't know if, you know -- he took it as seriously," he said. "I figure if you're going to joke and imitate other people and do the whole deal, then you should take it."

Both Roddick and Djokovic said they wouldn't discuss anything they said to each other in the locker room after the match.  read more »

I caught up with Novak Djokovic's agent Benito Pérez-Barbadillo after last night's PR disaster, and he said a center court interview was definitely the wrong place for Novak to vent his anger.

"He’s young, and he’s learning," said Mr. Pérez-Barbadillo "He learns from defeats, and he learns from wins and he learns from life. He’s 21 years old and he had a shit day yesterday. You have a bad day yesterday and when a friend of yours, or someone you think is a friend of yours, says something and it’s taken from the press and all over the world and you feel hurt--he chose the wrong audience to say where he said and he learned from that.  read more »