Djokovic was left wondering what had hit him at Roland Garros in 2015.
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Prior to this match, Nishikori had been undefeated in five career matches against top 10 opponents at the U.S. Open.
The hard-working Wawrinka has been on court twice as long, 17 hours, 54 minutes, playing 23 sets.
Nishikori was sharp for the first two sets but the turning point was when Wawrinka saved a break point at 4-4 in the third.
“He was playing much better the last couple sets”.
The pair met in the 2015 French Open final, a clash Wawrinka won 46 64 63 64 and despite making it through to the final, the Serb has struggled for momentum.
Nishikori was the runner-up at Flushing Meadows in 2014.
By the time Nishikori broke Wawrinka’s serve in the opening game of the second with a forehand victor, the sun had disappeared behind the west end of Arthur Ashe Stadium but the oppressive humidity of the afternoon stubbornly remained.
Wawrinka, meanwhile, believes he can repeat his French Open victory of last year and his Australian Open win from two years ago.
Sept 9, 2016; New York, NY, USA; Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland reacts after beating Kei Nishikori o … Kei broke Wawrinka’s serve in the fifth game of the first set courtesy of some woeful unforced errors by the Swiss, and the Japanese held on to take the first set 6-4.
In the final set, Wawrinka raced out to a 3-0 lead.
But history at the US Open may not favour Wawrinka on Sunday.
However, he was unable to replicate that excellent performance against Wawrinka, who will now face Novak Djokovic in the final.
“Novak is a strong guy, he’s mentally a beast”, Wawrinka said of Djokovic.
“I think for sure it’s going to give me confidence to tell myself that I know I can do it because I did it at the French Open final”. It’s tough, you know. “I think that was really working for him”.
Certainly the 30-year-old Parisian’s approach grates on tennis traditionalists including grand slam victor and commentator John McEnroe, who labelled Monfils’ performance as unprofessional. He appeared to be acting like he was not interested, and suddenly whip big shots. “I tried to get in his head, to create something new for him”, Monfils said afterwards.
“We can change a little bit”. Although Djokovic is fresher, he has needed treatment for wrist, elbow and shoulder injuries at this US Open.
It was Djokovic who emerged with the first set, however, and by the sixth game of the second set, the Frenchman had won just nine points, which he managed to nudge into double figures by the end of it.
The man with the wondrous one-handed backhand has beaten Djokovic en route to both of his Grand Slam championships.
The fitness of world number one Djokovic had been a major talking point ahead of the year’s last grand slam, with the Serbian having looked some way short of his best as he made early exits from Wimbledon and the Rio Olympics.
Novak Djokovic downed Gael Monfils to reach a seventh US Open final Friday after a semi-final in which the Frenchman was roundly booed and accused of not trying. Monfils, nevertheless, took the third set by upping his game before Djokovic took control of the fourth.
This will be his seventh US Open final and as he chases his 13th Grand Slam title, he says he is free from the pain that nearly caused him to miss the event.
On some points Monfils looked like he was barely trying, only to come up with a brilliant victor the next.
“I haven’t played Stan in some time now”.
Additionally, he defeated Djokovic to win both of his major titles (he also won their 2014 Australian Open quarter-final match-up in five sets).
“He’s a very powerful, powerful player, ” Djokovic said.
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Tennis: Novak Djokovic’s bizzare run in the US Open continues.
