Tennis:Top seed Rafael Nadal breezed into his first US Open final with a comfortable victory over Russia's Mikhail Youzhny at Flushing Meadows.
Nadal won 6-2 6-3 6-4 on Arthur Ashe Stadium and has not dropped a set on his way to a final against either five-time champion Roger Federer or third seed Novak Djokovic.
The world number one has also lost his serve just twice in the championships as he looks to become the seventh man - and, at 24, the second youngest - to complete the career Grand Slam.
Nadal has won the French Open five times, Wimbledon twice and the Australian Open once, but always felt the US Open would be the toughest major title to win due to the balls and surface used in New York.
However, an improvement in his serve - his average first-serve speed and fastest serve are both up by 12mph this year - has given the Spaniard the missing weapon in his arsenal and Youzhny was never in with a chance of causing a huge upset.
Nadal broke serve in the fourth game of the match and saved a break point in a lengthy game to consolidate the break, while a second break closed out the opening set.
Youzhny's hopes were given a brief boost when Nadal needed treatment to his feet midway through the second set - "The tape was too hard but no problem," Nadal explained later - but the left-hander soon shrugged off any problems and another break of serve was enough to take a two-sets-to-love lead.
There was surely no-one among the 23,000-strong crowd who felt Youzhny could come back from such a position, but to the 12th seed's credit he broke Nadal's serve for the first time in the match to get back on level terms at 4-4 in the third set.
However, Youzhny's joy was short-lived as a dreadful backhand volley into the net gifted Nadal a chance to break straight back and the Wimbledon champion needed no second invitation before serving out for the match after two hours and 13 minutes.
"For me it's a dream, I'm going to play the first time in the final in the biggest centre court in the world," Nadal said. "Right now, after a lot of work I am here and very happy.
"I played aggressive, my serve is working well during all the tournament and maybe he (Youzhny) was a bit tighter than me because he played longer matches than me during the week."