Top-ranked Roger Federer defeated fourth-seeded Novak Djokovic 7-6 (3), 7-5, 7-5 on Sunday to advance to the final of the US Open. Federer will go for his sixth straight US championship here in New York, playing No. 6-seed Juan Martin del Potro on Monday, due to a rain-altered schedule.

In the first semifinal on Sunday, del Potro shut down Rafael Nadal, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2, in a rare drubbing. At 6-foot-6, delPo moves extremely well and has a great all-around game: There really are no glaring weaknesses, making it difficult to formulate any kind of “game plan” to beat him. Even though Federer leads 6-0 in their head-to-head matchups, if del Potro is on his game in the final against Federer, it should be a heck of a match.

And while this will be the first time the 20-year-old del Potro has appeared in the final of a Grand Slam tournament, there is no reason to think he won’t be up to the challenge. Over the entire tournament, he has only dropped two sets, and he certainly seems comfortable and confident, stating that this is his favorite event (in particular, he claims to love huge Ashe Stadium).

The highlight of Federer’s win over Djoko occurred toward the end of the third set. Serving at 5-6 and down love-30, Djokovic, made a perfect lob over Federer, who at net. In a display that inspired a standing ovation, Federer ran down the lob and hit a between-the-legs shot from the baseline with his back to the net, for an outright winner.

It wasn’t just that it was a truly spectacular shot (it was), but it was the timing of it: It gave Federer three match points, and after seeing that shot go past him at the net for a winner, Djokovic probably was resigned to thinking that this was not going to be the day he would end Federer’s streak here. The match was over on the next point.

Up until that point, match was a somewhat evenly and well-played affair, with Federer showing his usual spurts of brilliance when needed in order to get to a two-set lead. It didn’t help matters for Djokovic that at some crucial moments, he would play a loose point.

It’s one thing to hit between-the-legs or behind-the-back shots while goofing around in practice… and even a seasoned pro will only put the ball back in play a small percentage of the time, much less hit a winner. It is quite another to hit such a shot in the semis of the US Open.

It is just another highlight for Federer in a career that seems to be all highlights. He has an opportunity to achieve yet another in Monday’s final here, which starts at 4 p.m. Eastern time. And with del Potro, it’s shaping up to be one of those matches that’s worth skipping out of work early for.