Novak-Nadal showdown

The Spaniard cruised into the final with a 21-match hard court unbeaten streak while Djokovic survived a five-set marathon to scrape through.

Nadal, whose 12 Grand Slam titles include the 2010 US Open, routed French eighth seed Richard Gasquet 6-4, 7-6 (7/1), 6-2, to reach his third final in four years. Nadal missed the 2012 event with knee injuries.

Djokovic outlasted Swiss ninth seed Stanislas Wawrinka 2-6, 7-6 (7/4),

3-6, 6-3, 6-4 after four hours and nine minutes to reach his fourth US Open final in a row, fifth overall, and 12th Slam final.

Nadal leads Djokovic 21-15 in their personal rivalry, which will move past John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl as the most-played matchup in the Open era.

Nadal won their most recent meetings in a five-set French Open semi-final and last month's Montreal semi-finals and has split two US Open finals with him, winning in 2010 to complete a career Grand Slam but losing a year later to give Djokovic his first trophy on the Flushing Meadows hard courts.

Nadal, who has won nine titles since ending a seven-month layoff to rest his knees, denied Gasquet's bid to become the first Frenchman in a US Open final since Cedric Pioline in 1993. It was his first Slam last-four since Wimbledon in 2007.

For his part, Djokovic admitted that he was not even the best player on the court for much of his match, but said he was able to raise his game when it mattered most to subdue stubborn Wawrinka, in his first Grand Slam semi-final.

The Swiss denied Djokovic break points with forehand, backhand and service winners as well as two netted backhands by the Serb beforeclosing out the game on a service winner.

But Djokovic finally capitalised on his eighth break point of the last set when Wawrinka swatted a backhand beyond the baseline to give him a 3-2 lead.

The victory ensured Djokovic will stay atop the rankings after the US Open no matter how he fares in the final.

Djokovic improved to 13-2 with his 11th victory in a row over Wawrinka, who also pushed him to 12-10 in the fifth set in a fourth-round matchup at the Australian Open.

Czech fifth seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka won the women'sdoubles final beating Australian eighth seeds Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua 6-7 (4/7), 6-1, 6-4.

It was the second Grand Slam title in as many days for Hlavackova, who joined Max Mirnyi of Belarus in winning the mixed doubles on Friday.

She became the first player to win two US Open titles since Zimbabwe's Cara Black in 2008, when she joined American Liezel Huber to win the women's doubles title and India's Leander Paes to win the mixed.

The first all-Czech duo to win the US Open crown took home $460 000.

They also won the 2011 French Open title.

Belarussian veteran Max Mirnyi captured his third US Open mixed doubles title when he and Czech Andrea Hlavackova beat American Abigail Spears and Mexican Santiago Gonzalez 7-6 (7/5) 6-3.

The 36-year-old Mirnyi's hat-trick of wins in the event, each with different partners, was completed 15 years after his first at Flushing Meadows and was the 10th major doubles title of his career.

He partnered with Serena Williams to win the US Open mixed doubles crown in 1998 and then triumphed with Victoria Azarenka in 2007.

Results- Men singles-Semi-finals: Novak Djokovic (SRB x1) bt Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI x9) 2-6, 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; Rafael Nadal (ESP x2) bt Richard Gasquet (FRA x8) 6-4, 7-6 (7/1), 6-2; Women doubles final:

Andrea Hlavackova/Lucie Hradecka (Czech x5) bt Ashleigh Barty/Casey

Dellacqua (AUSx8) 6-7 (4/7), 6-1, 6-4; Mixed doubles final: Max Mirnyi (Belarus)/ Andrea Hlavackova (Czech) bt Abigail Spears (US)/ Santiago Gonzalez (Mex) 7-6 (7/5) 6-3.