To keep you abreast of all the developments at the U.S. Open (Aug. 31-Sept. 13), SI.com's team of tennis writers, reporters and editors will provide reporting, analysis, links, podcasts and videos in our U.S. Open blog. Check back daily for updates. For complete, day-by-day coverage of Week 1, click here. You can also follow SI.com's Jon Wertheim on Twitter at @jonstennistweet.

U.S. OPEN WEEK 2

Monday, Sept. 14

Three things to watch: Men's final edition

Top-seeded Roger Federer is gunning for a sixth consecutive U.S. Open title this afternoon opposite sixth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro, one of the hottest players on tour during hardcourt season. Here are three questions surrounding today's final (4 p.m. ET, CBS):

Will Del Potro shrink from the occasion? Monday's title showdown is a familiar scene for Federer -- who's reached the finals in 17 of the past 18 major tournaments -- while Del Potro is the latest in a long line of first-time Grand Slam finalists to meet the Swiss for a U.S. Open championship. Not only has Federer won a mind-boggling 40 straight matches at the U.S. Open -- with just one loss in any match since April -- but he's also prevailed in each of the six all-time meetings with the 20-year-old. Del Potro needs to forget that history from the minute he walks on the court or it could be a very short afternoon. Staying aggressive from the jump -- and not in awe -- is the first key to engineering an upset of this order. To have a chance, the 6-foot-6 Argentine must serve with power and consistency from the very first games.

Can Del Potro flap an unflappable opponent? A player doesn't win 15 major championships with too many weaknesses. Federer often appears invincible on the court. Take Sunday's semifinal, when Novak Djokovic played some of the best tennis of the fortnight and still went down in straight sets. But the one pressure point in Federer's impeccable all-court game -- a vulnerability which Rafael Nadal has been able to exploit in their meetings -- remains the backhand (on balls with heavy top spin in particular). If Del Potro can probe that backhand wing early and often, mixing in lobs and limiting Federer's opportunities for elementary forehand winners, he's got a excellent chance of giving Federer problems.

Can anybody beat Federer here? Del Potro came awfully close in this year's French Open semifinals, pushing Federer to the limit in a five-set thriller. "Every month he was getting better [since then]," Federer said after Sunday's semifinal. "He was hitting his serves better, from the baseline he was getting more confident." Federer's winning streak can't last forever and a nascent superstar like Del Potro seems as likely a candidate as any to end it. Plus it's worth remembering the last player to defeat Federer in Queens was another big-serving Argentine: David Nalbandian in 2003. If Del Potro can remain aggressive and take the first set, it's anybody's match.
-- Bryan Armen Graham

Sunday, Sept. 13

Federer gets tricky

The great American author David Foster Wallace, two years before he died, wrote an essay on Roger Federer for The New York Times sports magazine Play.

In the aptly named "Federer as Religious Experience," Wallace wrote at length about what he termed Federer Moments. "These are times, as you watch the young Swiss play," Wallace wrote in the opening, "when the jaw drops and eyes protrude and sounds are made that bring spouses in from other rooms to see if you're O.K."

The most recent of these transcendent sporting experiences happened today at the end of Federer's semifinal match against Novak Djokovic. With Djokovic down two sets and serving at 5-6, 0-30, the players rallied briefly until Federer sprinted toward the net to return a drop shot. When Djokovic countered with a textbook lob, Federer -- running at full speed with his back to the net -- whipped an impossible between-the-legs crosscourt winner from several feet behind the baseline.

The awesome shot set up match point for Federer. From there, it was merely a formality, as the 28-year-old closed out a 7-6 (3), 7-5, 7-5 victory. (Federer will face Juan Martin del Potro in Monday's final.)

An amazing shot. But the shot of his life?

"I would think so," Federer said. "The way I was able to hit it with pace and accuracy, it's something that happens so, so rarely. You know, it was a semifinal of a Grand Slam after all."

Yet another Federer Moment for the archives.

-- Bryan Armen Graham

***

Men's semifinal breakdowns

No. 3 Rafael Nadal vs. No. 6 Juan Martin del Potro

• Time: Noon ET, ESPN2/USOpen.org

• Head-to-head (career): Nadal leads 4-2

• Head-to-head (hard court): 2-2

• How Nadal got here: d. Richard Gasquet 6-2, 6-2, 6-3; d. Nicolas Kiefer 6-0, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; d. No. 32 Nicolas Almagro 7-5, 6-4, 6-4; d. No. 13 Gael Monfils 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-1, 6-3; d. No. 11 Fernando Gonzalez 7-6(4), 7-6(2), 6-0

• How del Potro got here: d. Juan Monaco 6-3, 6-3, 6-1; d. Jurgen Melzer 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-3; d. Daniel Koellerer 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3; d. No. 24 Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3, 6-3, 6-3; d. No. 16 Marin Cilic 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1

Juan Martin del Potro is looking to reach his first Grand Slam final. Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

• Why Nadal will win: Back during the first week, when serious doubts loomed over the Majorcan's fitness, Nadal's first-round victim put the field on notice. "He can win the tournament," Gasquet said. "Day after day, he will improve his level. For sure, he can win." True to the Frenchman's hunch, Nadal only improved since. Despite missing 10 weeks this summer with tendinitis in both knees, he's tied for the tour lead with five titles and ranks third in wins (54). That No. 3 seed makes it easy to forget it was Nadal, and not Roger Federer, who was this season's dominant player before taking leave.

• Why del Potro will win: Like in 2008, the slender 20-year-old Argentine entered the Open as one of the hottest players on the tour -- only this year he's appeared capable of letting it ride. The only player to have beaten Nadal twice in '09, del Potro packs the big serve and baseline power necessary to keep Rafa on the defensive. He's also taken the two most recent meetings from Nadal in their all-time series, at this year's Miami and Montreal Masters.

• Prediction: Much like he was able to wear down Monfils with body blows in their fourth-round showdown, Nadal should be able to extend -- and expose -- del Potro. Nadal in four sets.

No. 1 Roger Federer vs. No. 4 Novak Djokovic

• Time: 4:30 p.m. ET, CBS/USOpen.org

• Head-to-head (career): Federer leads 8-4

• Head-to-head (hard court): Federer leads 6-3

• How Federer got here: d. Devin Britton 6-1, 6-3, 7-5; d. Simon Greul 6-3, 7-5, 7-5; d. No. 31 Lleyton Hewitt 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4; d. No. 14 Tommy Robredo 7-5, 6-2, 6-2; d. No. 12 Robin Soderling 6-0, 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (6)

• How Djokovic got here: d. Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-1, 6-3; d. Carsten Ball 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; d. Jesse Witten 6-7 (2), 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-4; d. No. 15 Radek Stepanek 6-1, 6-3, 6-3; d. No. 10 Fernando Verdasco 7-6(2), 1-6, 7-5, 6-2

• Why Federer will win: Why won't he? The five-time defending champion is 39-0 at the Open dating to 2004. And he's made it look easy, getting extended to five sets just twice during that span and dropping a mere 15 sets -- an average of three per championship. He's lost just one match since April and doesn't seem liable to lose another, not in a best-of-five-set match at one of his favorite venues.

• Why Djokovic will win: Federer hasn't played since Wednesday night -- and Serena Williams' Saturday ouster just showed the hazards of an extended layoff. Nobody's given Federer a legitimate scare at this year's tournament, but the top-seeded Swiss has appeared vulnerable during stretches. He committed 59 unforced errors in a sloppy third-round win over Hewitt, was pushed by Robredo and didn't exactly slam the door against Soderling in the quarters. Plus, there's the law of averages: Federer's extraordinary winning streak can't last forever and if anybody has the tools and the confidence to end it, it's Djokovic. Remember: Just once in the last 17 Grand Slams has Federer fallen short of the finals, and that's when Djokovic tamed him in straight sets at the 2008 Australian Open.

• Prediction: These guys are meeting on the second weekend here for the third time in three years, after Federer's victories over Djokovic in the '07 final and '08 semis. "There are no secrets," the 22-year-old Serb following Wednesday's quarters. "It's a matter of a good day. I hope I can have a good day and concentrate." Good might be enough to make it interesting, but perfect is likely mandatory against a champion of Federer's caliber. Look for Federer to book an eighth showdown with Nadal in a Grand Slam final, a record for major-championship meetings between two rivals. Federer in four sets.
-- Bryan Armen Graham