Juan Martin Del Potro dreaming of US Open glory against Novak Djokovic after injuries brought him to the brink

Nine years and four wrist operations have passed since the Argentine beat Roger Federer to become a Grand Slam champion at Flushing Meadows

There have been times in recent years when Juan Martin del Potro feared he might never play again, let alone contest another Grand Slam final, but the 29-year-old Argentine’s perseverance and refusal to give in to injuries will be rewarded when he attempts to win the US Open for a second time on Sunday.

Nine years after beating Roger Federer in his only previous appearance in a Grand Slam final, Del Potro will take on Novak Djokovic, the Wimbledon champion, in the final of the tournament that has always been dearest to his heart. After Del Potro had secured his place in the final when Rafael Nadal retired with a knee injury when trailing the Argentinian 7-6, 6-2, Djokovic beat Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in Friday’s second semi-final.

“I cannot believe that I will have a chance to play another Grand Slam final here, which is my favourite tournament,” Del Potro said. “It will be special to me and a big challenge, because I've been fighting with many, many problems to get to this moment.”

Del Potro underwent four wrist operations in the years after his 2009 triumph here and had long spells out of the game. In 2015 he was close to retirement, but he returned to the world’s top 100 the following year, was back in the top 10 at the start of this year and is currently at a career-high position of No 3.

The Argentine has been in excellent form in 2018. He won his first Masters Series title at Indian Wells, beating Federer in the final, and reached the semi-finals and quarter-finals at the French Open and Wimbledon respectively before losing to Nadal at both.

We will never know how Del Potro might have fared against a fully fit Nadal on Friday, but the Argentine played an excellent first set before the Spaniard’s injury problems became apparent.

Although Del Potro has beaten Djokovic twice at the Olympics, the Serb has won 14 of their 18 career meetings and was at the top of his game in his semi-final victory over Nishikori. Djokovic had 17 break points in the match, which he dominated from the moment he broke serve at the first attempt.

Nishikori beat Djokovic in the semi-finals here at Flushing Meadows years ago – before losing in the final to Marin Cilic - but has never got the better of him since. That never looked likely to change on this occasion as Djokovic looked much more comfortable in the cooler conditions than he had in the heat and humidity earlier in the tournament.

Juan Martin del Potro is through to the final of the US Open (Getty)

The only break points Djokovic had to defend came early in the second set, but Nishikori was unable to convert them. Defending brilliantly and hitting the ball with almost unerring accuracy, Djokovic was at the top of his game.

“I came into today's match knowing I was going to play a player who is very quick and takes away a lot of the time from his opponent, just likes to go for his shots,” Djokovic said afterwards.

“I thought in the important moments I came up with some good second serves, some good first serves. I was returning well. I was constantly putting pressure on him, trying to move him around the court, take away the rhythm from him, not give him the same look always.The match was really, really good from my side.”

This was Djokovic’s ninth successive victory in a Grand Slam semi-final and takes him into his eighth final at Flushing Meadows, though he has won the title only twice. However, he might consider it a good omen that both his previous US Open victories followed triumphs at Wimbledon.

Djokovic described Del Potro as “a dear friend, someone that I respect a lot”. He added: “We all felt for his struggles with injuries that kept him away from the tour for two or three years, but I think in the eyes of everyone he was always a top-five player.

“Even when his ranking dropped and he started to work his way up, we all knew that he had the capacity and the quality to get to the point where he is at the moment. It was just a matter of time.

“I saw today before the match against Nadal a stat that he's the player with the most wins against world No.1s. That shows the quality that he has, especially in the big matches. He's a big-time player. He's a big-match player. He's a Grand Slam winner.”