He's in the final!!!

This tournament has felt like running a marathon. Stop, start, delays, player revolts, eggs ... and an overwhelming hope that someone, ANYONE would come along and save tennissss. Rafa was the second of the two semi-finals last night, the first being Feds and of course ... him, The Prince of Darkness. We'd hoped that if anyone could, Feds could, and when he took a two set lead ... OMG! Will it happen, can it happen?? But Djerk got into his stride, Feds faded, and then one set was clawed back and then the other. So there we had it ... a fifth set.

But Feds got that elusive break and stood to serve for the match ... and had two match points ... but on the first, Djerk hit a return more in hope and wonder, and would you believe it, it beat Feds. Cue more Djerk antics to rouse the crowd and then rattled ... Feds double faults. Djerk kept his composure, broke Feds, held then broke, and won the match.

The twonk is in the final.

By this point and after 4 hours of this stuff, we were exhausted and can you actually believe this, were left totally flat when watching Rafa. Because whilst you want a Rafa win, if it ultimately means he's in the final and he beats him ... can we bear it, could we possibly stand it? I apologise for even revealing all this, but that's what this season has done for me ... its making me lose my love of tennis.

But when Rafa got into his stride, it didn't take us long to get into ours ... and Rafa produced a masterclass in the first two sets and raced to a 2-0 lead. People will have you believe that Andy Murray failed to apply the correct game plan. Which is what exactly when facing Rafa in a Slam? Oh yes ... sorry, USO 08 and AO 09 ... silly me. But he's lost every single other slam semi-final since then, huh? Rafa's form dipped in the third set though, and from nowhere, Murray got a break.

In the fourth, Rafa regained his composure, upped his level and then something really bizarre happened. When facing a break point, Murray decided that it was vital that he go and change his sweatbands ... he took over a minute doing this and inexplicably, wasn't warned about the time wasting ... but the person it affected most was himself as he was dreadful and hit a shot massively out to hand Rafa the break. Then another sealed the match.

So Rafa won 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. He dropped his first set of the tournament, gave us the lawnmower and looked absolutely delighted with his victory. In his on-court interview as natural as you like, he charmed the New York crowd and asked for their support and ended with a fitting reference to 9/11. A class act.

So after nearly two weeks, the Monday final is Rafael Nadal vs. his 2011 Nemesis ... the Prince of Darkness.

And its up to Rafa to save tennisssss ...