NEW YORK, Sept. 12 -- Top seed Novak Djokovic captured his third major title the year at the US Open on Monday by dismissing second seed Rafael Nadal 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-1 at Flushing Meadows.
A year after Nadal won three major titles, and four years after Roger Federer last did the same, Djokovic has now joined the club of six as the finest men's single season in Open Era history.
He won the Australian Open over Andy Murray in the final and beat Nadal in the Wimbledon final.
Djokovic beat Nadal in 4 hours 10 minutes. The win made Djokovic 64-2 this year, gave him his first US Open title and also placed him among the all-time greats. The Serb maintained an all-win record against Nadal this year, all six encounter from the tournament finals.
Overall, this was Djokovic's fourth major title. His first was at the Australian Open in 2008.
Djokovic converted 11 of 26 break points he imposed while Nadal made only six of 14 of that.
Djokovic hit seven aces, five more than his Spaniard opponent. The Serb did commit more unforced errors, 14 more than Nadal, but he well covered the deficit with 55 winners to Nadal's 32.
Nadal, the defending champion, said, "Obviously I am disappointed now. This guy is doing unbelievable things." Then he looked toward Djokovic and said, "What you did this year is probably impossible to repeat, so well done."
The two carved up the year's four major tournaments with the Spaniard grabbing the remaining French Open at Roland Garros, where Djokovic was inflicted his first loss of the season to Federer in the semifinal.
Nadal broke through first at the second game of first set to have a 2-0 lead, but the Serb dominated the remaining, clinching six games in a row to wrap up the opener.
The third game of the second set encompassed enough ovation-causing tennis for an entire match. It lasted 17 minutes 15 seconds, and while trying to defend a sixth break point after eight deuces, Nadal, who appeared positioned for a winning overhead, slammed the ball into the net.