NEW YORK -- The weather was much better at the U.S. Open on Sunday. So was Novak Djokovic. Under a cloudless blue sky, in only a hint of wind, defending champion Djokovic got his game into high gear and reached his third consecutive final at Flushing Meadows by beating fourth-seeded David Ferrer of Spain 2-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 in a match suspended a day earlier. "I was a different player," the second-seeded Djokovic said. "I felt much more comfortable on the court today than I did yesterday, (when) obviously the conditions were more brutal." Ferrer led a shaky Djokovic 5-2 in the semifinals opening set Saturday, when wind was whipping at more than 20 mph and play was halted because of an impending rainstorm. When they resumed about 18 hours later, Ferrer held serve to take that set -- and then Djokovic quickly took control, using the brand of defence-to-offence baseline excellence that has carried the Serb to four of the past seven Grand Slam titles. "We were all praying for less wind today," Djokovic said. "He handled the wind much better than I did." In Mondays final, Djokovic will face Olympic champion Andy Murray, who beat Tomas Berdych 5-7, 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (7) on Saturday. Its the fifth consecutive year the U.S. Open mens title match has been played a day later than planned. Later Sunday, Serena Williams came back to take the last four games and beat No. 1-ranked Victoria Azarenka 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 for her fourth U.S. Open title and 15th Grand Slam championship. The final was shifted from Saturday to Sunday because of the weather, the fourth time since 2008 the womens event went long, too. The third-seeded Murray was able to enjoy a day off Sunday, while Djokovic had to put in some work. But in the end, it wasnt too taxing: Djokovic played only about two hours and was finished with Ferrer by 1:20 p.m., giving him more than 24 hours to rest before taking on Murray. "I dont feel any problems physically. ... It was good to have the job done in four sets," Djokovic said. "I feel fresh as I can be at this stage of the tournament." Murray is one of only two men to lose each of his first four major finals -- his coach, Ivan Lendl, is the other -- and hell try to avoid dropping to 0-5. Hell also try to become the first British man since Fred Perry in 1936 to win any of tennis four most important tournaments. "I dont think theres any clear favourite," five-time major champion Djokovic said. "Hes looking for his first Grand Slam title. Im sure hes going to be very motivated, and hopefully we can come up with our best tennis for this crowd." Djokovic leads the head-to-head series against Murray 8-6 but lost their most recent matchup in the semifinals of the London Games. "Most of our matches that we played against each other were very close," Djokovic said, "and only small margins decide the winner." He and Murray were born a week apart in May 1987 (Djokovic is younger), and they have come up through the ranks together and know each other well. Before heading out to warm up for his semifinal, Murray sat in front of a computer with Djokovic and they watched online together while Scotland and Serbia played to a 0-0 draw in a qualifying match for soccers World Cup. Djokovic extended his winning streak in Grand Slam matches played on hard courts to 27, including titles at last years U.S. Open and the Australian Open in 2011 and 2012. He slides along the surface as though it were red clay, allowing him to use his elastic limbs to contort and stretch to get to opponents shots that appear to be winners. Over and over and over again Sunday, Djokovic would prolong points until he could gain an advantage or Ferrer would flub a groundstroke. After ending one 25-stroke exchange by snapping off a cross-court backhand winner while serving out the second set, Djokovic bellowed and spread his arms wide, holding a pose, as his parents rose to their feet in his guest box. By late in the third set, when Djokovic took 12 of 14 points to go from a 3-2 deficit to 5-3 lead, Ferrer was muttering to himself and in the direction of his coach in the stands, the very picture of frustration. "Playing so bad; a lot of mistakes," Ferrer said. "He was better. I dont have to say nothing. In some games in the third and the fourth set, I lost a little bit my focus." The loss dropped Ferrer to 0-4 in Grand Slam semifinals, with another of those defeats also coming against Djokovic at the U.S. Open, back in 2007. Djokovic was playing in his 10th consecutive Grand Slam semifinal, equaling Rod Laver and Lendl for the second-longest streak behind Roger Federers record of 23. And after dropping that first set of this semifinal -- the only set hes lost all tournament -- Djokovic immediately began turning things around, breaking Ferrer twice in a row en route to a 5-0 lead in the second. In the third, Ferrer made a little charge, taking three games in a row to briefly lead that set. But the difficulty that dealing with Djokovic presents began to wear on Ferrer. He would rush shots, trying to sneak balls past Djokovic, and that simply was not going to work on this day. Ferrer made three unforced errors to get broken and fall behind 4-3 in the key third set, and when Djokovic eventually served it out with a 123 mph ace, their match pretty much was over. In earning his tour-leading 60th match win of 2012, Djokovic also moved a step closer to being able to say hes had the best season. Yes, he will stay at No. 2 in the rankings behind Wimbledon champion Federer, but Djokovic is the only man with a chance to claim two Grand Slam trophies this year, after grabbing three in 2011, when he began the year 41-0. "In life, you have ups and downs, so I wasnt really surprised with, if you want to call it, a bit less success," Djokovic said. "Regardless of the comparison with these two years, I still think its been a fantastic year for me." wholesale nfl jerseys . Jonas Andersson had four goals in a game for Atlant in the Kontinental Hockey League last week - and the next day he was traded. cheap jerseys from china . Ramsay, a two-time European Tour winner who held a three-stroke lead after the second round, fired three birdies but also bogeyed two holes because of some mediocre putting. Jaakko Makitalo of Finland, looking for a maiden Asian Tour title, was a stroke behind on 203 after a third-round score of 68. http://www.cheapjerseysnflchina.us/[/ur... .S. Open by winning the Nordea Masters by five shots on Saturday. [url=http://www.cheapjerseysnflchina.us/]cheap jerseys . -- Jason Day beat Stacy Lewis with birdie on the second hole of a playoff to lift the PGA Tour past the LPGA Tour on Tuesday in the Wendys 3-Tour Challenge. cheap nfl jerseys . Olivier Occean scored in the second half and 10-man Canada held on for a 1-0 win over Cuba to kick off the third stage of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying Friday.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry Fraser wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca! Hi Kerry, I enjoy your analysis on TSN almost daily and I have a question regarding the instigator penalty. During the most recent game between the Flames and Canucks (Tuesday), it seems to me that Tim Jackman instigated a fight with Dale Weise with less than a minute to go in the third period. The score was 5-0 Canucks at the time (no reason for Weise to fight, and perhaps sour grapes by Jackman) and there was no instigator penalty called. Furthermore, the fight occurred within the last five minutes of the game, which can often lead to a suspension. Now I know that in general terms, refs do not like to make calls that will determine the outcome of a game but as a result of this non-call, the Canucks did not get a power play. The Flames subsequently scored, ruining Luongos shutout bid and Jackman was not suspended for his next game. In your expert opinion, do you think the instigator penalty should have been called and can you clarify the rules that determine whether or not the instigator should be applied? Thank you for your time!Chris - Abbotsford, B.C. Chris:Thank you for being an almost daily visitor with me. I promise to try harder so you will jump on board every day, Monday through Friday. By the way I love your City of Abbotsford. I was on tour with the Hanson Brothers of Slap Shot fame in September and we brought a game of Old Time Hockey to your beautiful town. Heres the expert opinion and clarification you asked for. An instigator of an altercation shall be a player, who by his actions or demeanor, demonstrates any/some of the following criteria: distance traveled; gloves off first; first punch thrown; menacing attitude or posture; verbal instigation or threats; conduct in retaliation to a prior game (or season) incident; obvious retribution for a previous incident in the game or season. The only criteria Im not sure applied to Tim Jackman as the clear instigator of the fight with Dale Weise was if it were done in retaliation or retribution to a previous incident. Based on the fact that neither Jackman nor Dale Weise had received a penalty in the game prior to the fight, I have to believe the 5-0 spanking the Canucks were administering to the Flames was the primary reason for Jackman to go on the hunt with less than a minute tto play.dddddddddddd Jackman not only avoided a Canuck power play but suspension as well. A hand pass stopped play with 58 seconds remaining in the game and Jackman came onto the ice for the ensuing face-off outside the Canucks blue line on the players bench side of the ice. It was obvious that Jackmans objective was not to tie or win the game on this final shift of the night! After gaining possession from the draw, Vancouver started a rush up ice on the bench side. Jackman curled back to the opposite side of the ice and hooked onto his check, Dale Weise at the Vancouver blue line (distance traveled). Jackman can be seen demonstrating a menacing attitude and posture as he appears to be verbally threatening Weise. The Vancouver forward continued to skate up ice in an attempt to catch the play and avoid Jackmans invitation. Why would Weise even bother to fight at this point with the score 5-0? Jackman persists and eventually throws his left glove off at the opposite blue line (more distance travelled), turns Weise and then throws the first punch. Weise is forced to drop his gloves and defend himself. Pretty much covers the criteria to define an instigator as I listed above from rule 46.11, dont you think? So why was no instigator penalty assessed, given the severity of punishment a player identified as the instigator of a fight in the final five minutes of regulation time or at any time in overtime (in addition to penalties assessed) is also suspended for one game pending a review of the incident? When the one-game suspension is imposed, the coach shall be fined $10,000.00 - a fine that will double for each subsequent incident. Given the consequences associated with this judgment, every referee wants to make sure that the player really earns his suspension and can therefore be more lenient in the assessment. All I can suggest to you Chris, is that perhaps the trailing referee on that side of the ice didnt think that Jackmans actions were clear-cut enough to violate rule 46.11 - Instigator with less than five minutes remaining in regulation time. As much as I like Jackman along with his coach Brent Sutter, I would not have been so generous. Jackman was the hands down – gloves off clear-cut instigator of the altercation and should have been penalized as such in an effort to deter this type of senseless conduct in the future. The chips would have surely fallen on the Sutter Farm. ' ' '