Nadal's Spanish eyes smile in US

Wins open for first time:

Top seed Rafael Nadal of Spain won the US Open for the first time on Monday with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 win over third seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia.

It was Nadal's ninth Grand Slam title win to go with his five French Opens, two Wimbledons and one Australian and it lifts him up to seventh in the all-time list behind leader Roger Federer who has 16.

It also completed the Grand Slam set for the Spaniard, making him the seventh player to have achieved this feat and made him just the fourth man to win three consecutive Grand Slam titles in the Open era dating back to 1968.

Nadal broke in the opening game of the match, but Djokovic broke back to level at 2-2. Another break for the world number one in the fifth game was enough to win him the first set.

Djokovic led 4-1 in the second set, but Nadal dug in to claw his way back to 4-4 before rain stopped play for nearly two hours.

On the resumption, the Serb held and then broke Nadal for the second time in the match in the 12th game to level the set scores. Nadal though broke again in the sixth game of the third set to move ahead again and when he ran off three games in a row to lead 3-1 in the fourth he was on his way to victory.

NEW YORK, Tuesday AFP