After falling behind one-to-nil at only the four minute mark, the US could have folded early. But they kept pressing and stayed in the game with some brilliant saves by keeper Tim Howard, who was selected as the Man of the Match. Taking advantage of a huge break when English keeper Robert Green misplayed Dempsey’s shot, the US made it stand throughout a scoreless second half.

Now the Americans need to keep up their solid play throughout the rest of the openers to advance to the knockout round. Anything less than that and they will be right back where they started as far as getting respect on an international level. The US has been the trendsetter for so many sports but soccer has been one that they just can’t seem to crack.

It is not as if they have not tried, though. Not one but two professional major leagues have been formed (NASL, MLS) and has attracted perhaps the world’s biggest stars of their time (Pele, David Beckham). But while that has created a buzz stateside, the international community still does not see the US as a threat. Every four years, they have the opportunity to change that perception and need to make their move.

They have put together a talented squad that should go further than their 2006 counterparts, who went 0-1-2 to fall out of the tourney after the opening round in Germany. But they need to play at their best and get a break like they did on Saturday. If that happens, then we may finally start putting the US in the same conversation with the elite countries of the world in soccer.

She’s back.

After struggling last season and knocked out by Justine Henin in the Quarterfinal, the younger Williams sister made a huge comeback in 2008, capped off by the straight set win in the Women’s Final over second seeded Jelena Jankovic , 6-4, 7-5.

“I’ve been working so hard all year,” said Williams, who is now the world’s No. 1 player. “Sometimes I wake up at like 6:00 in the morning to go practice and it was too dark. I would have to wait until it gets light. It’s just paying off. No one really, really knows the work that an athlete puts in. You know, it’s worth it. And then I felt like, Gosh, I’ve been working the hardest. I should win.”

It didn’t come easy as Williams had to fight Jankovic in the second set to seal the deal. Down 3-5 and 0-40, she was able to come back from the triple set point to take the next four games, giving her the win.

Using the skills that made her No. 1 five years ago, Williams was able to put the younger Jankovic on her heals, bowling her over during the latter stages of the match.

“I just got so positive. I was like, um, I really want to win,” she said. “All I have to do is break and hold, break, and hold, and break. I figured it seemed so simple, so I thought, Okay, all I have to do is win one point here and one point there, and I was ready.”

For her ninth Grand Slam win – and $1.5 million payday – the 27 year-old came out strong, winning the first set 6-4 and never trailing her Serbian opponent. The ease of her server and ability to make a strong return, which alluded her last year, didn’t give Jankovic a chance to even sniff victory in the first.

Then came the second and Jankovic was able to come back, ultimately serving for the set, but couldn’t close Williams out 0-40 and double faulted another set point later in the game.

Williams was able to take advantage of the Serb to ultimately win another Grand Slam.

“I want to get double digits [wins],” Williams said. I like that I’m at nine because I’m pushing for ten, and I feel like I can do it. I obviously play well all the time in Australia, so that’s coming up soon. I have to win another French Open and I love Wimbledon. I definitely had the game to do it. I love winning Grand Slams, so I look forward to it.”

Notes: Williams also won the Open in 1999 and 2002…She also won the Australian Open three time [2003, 2005, 2007] with one wins at Wimbledon [2002, 2003] and one at Roland Garros in 2002.

“You know, if I was a spectator today, I would have rather watched more tennis as well,” Murray said. “You kind of understand why they do it, but the atmosphere was still awesome. They know tennis here. When there was good points, they applauded for both. Obviously they wanted to see more tennis, which was fine by me. By the end of the match, I thought it was pretty even, you know, and obviously finished off well.”

Actually it went very well for the 21 year-old Brit. Up 2 sets to Love but down a break in the third, he was able to finish off Nadal with a 6–2, 7–6(5), 4–6, 6–4 win to advance him to his first Grand Slam Finals.

When the match resumed, Nadal and Murray were both able to stay on serve after Murray was broken yesterday in the third. It resulted in a Nadal win.

“The momentum was kind of with him a little bit in the third set,” Murray said. “He held serve easy the first couple of games, and I don’t think either of us dropped a point maybe the first couple of service games. So, you know, I just had to try and stay aggressive, you know, stay focused. I knew, because of the wind from the far side of the court from where we came out, it’s much easier to return from that end, and I knew I was going to have some chances, so I had to just try and stay focused on that.”

Things changed in the fourth. Up 1-0, Murray had a double break point and seven overall in the 8-deuce second game, but couldn’t close out the No. 1 seed, keeping the match on serve. But Murray was able to come back against Nadal as the Arthur Ashe crowd started cheering for the Scottish national as he shut down the Spaniard later in the match.

“It was quite windy out there as well,” said Murray, whose best finish before the Open was fourth round. Obviously yesterday the conditions were pretty heavy, very humid. Today it was very windy on the court. The ball was flying through the air a bit more. I just had to try and stay calm. I thought I was playing well enough to win the match, but I knew Nadal was going to come at me. There was a few sort of ups and downs even though it was a very short time we were out on the court, but I managed to come through in the end.”

Murray will now face Roger Federer later on today. Lifetime he is 3-1 against the Swiss master, but won’t go into the match too overconfident.

“I’ve played well against [Federer] in the past,” he said. “I think a Slam final is different to the match that I played against him before. You know, he’s obviously won, you know, over 30 matches in a row here, you know, so he’s obviously going to be feeling confident going in. He’s got loads of experience in these situations and it’s something new for me. I know I’m going to have to play great to have a chance of winning, but I’ve played well the last couple of weeks.”

Yet, there he was winning in the Open Semifinals over and in the first set, the old Federer dominated third seeded Novak Djokovic to an easy 6-3 win.

“I hit winners all the way through,” said the second seeded Federer . “It was important, you know, to stay grounded, you know, because I knew that tough times were going to arrive, and that’s exactly happened in the second set. You don’t hit your first serves like maybe you do usually, or the way I was hitting them in the first set. I knew I was always going to get in trouble against such a good player like Novak.”

Djokovic did come back winning the second, 7-5, but Federer shook it off to win in four sets with a 7-5 win in the third and 6-2 in the fourth to proceed to his fifth straight Final in Flushing Meadows.

“This is how I normally play on hardcourt, you know,” Federer said. “Half volleys, passing shots, good serving, putting the pressure on, you know, playing with the wind, you know, using it to my advantage. All those things. I definitely had moments during today where I thought: This is how I would like to play every time. So it was a very nice feeling, actually, to get that feeling back.”

A heavy humidity from impending Tropical Storm Hanna overshadowed the match, which seemed to affect Djokovic move than Federer. It may have been the reason why the 27 year-old had came out strong in the first with a strong serve, putting his Serbian opponent on the defensive.

“[The weather] one of the main issues probably today,” Djokovic said. “I knew that I have to really be 100% fit to win against the player who won four times here. So if you’re not able to hold on then you’re not able to win.”

Yet, Djokovic was able to break the Swiss national twice in the second and led 4-2, but Federer eventually came back to even the set up at five. But the Serbian was able to pull out the second and then led 5-4 in the third, but the crowd was behind Federer, which allowed him comeback in the set.

“It would be great if I do get, you know, a lot of fan support,” Federer said. “I don’t count on it because I’m not American, but I feel a little bit New Yorker right now. So it does feel great. I definitely appreciate, you know, the effort from the fans, you know, supporting me and pushing me forward. I definitely feel it’s helped me throughout this event.”

Although Federer always had the respect of the New York crowd, yesterday’s backing was maybe more than normal, because of the comments Djokovic made after beating Andy Roddick on Thursday night. The Serbian criticized his American opponent after the win because Roddick questioned Djokovic’s injuries. It drew boos from the crowd.

“It was obvious that they are on his side because he’s ex No. 1 and still the second best player in the world and he’s defending champ here four times and people love him. He deserves that support,” said Djokovic who felt his comments the other night were “fair.”

But all of that is in the past and Federer advanced after an easy fourth set and will go for his fifth straight title on Monday.

He will face the winner of the other semifinal, either Rafael Nadal of Andy Murray, which was suspended in the third set due to the rain. Murray leads 2-0 [6-2, 7-6] with the top seed holding a 3-2 lead in the third. The match was moved to Louis Armstrong Stadium and started around 12:30 because the USTA wanted beat the storm.

The rest of the match will be played later today at 4 p.m. with the Woman’s Final between Jelena Jankovic and Serena Williams postponed until 9 p.m. tonight. The Men’s Final will be played tomorrow at 5 p.m. making this the first Open in 21 years to be pushed to an extra Monday.

He had been handled easily during the first pair of sets both owned by the 21 year-old No.3 ranked Serb who apparently used some post-match Roddick comments regarding his injuries to break the best server in the sport an unheard of four times for a 6-2, 6-3 lead. Prior, he had only been broken three times all tournament.

“That’s not nice, anyhow, to say in front of this crowd that I have 16 injuries and that I’m faking,” a furious Djokovic later acknowledged to Michael Barkan drawing boos once the match was over.

But here was the five years older popular No.8 ranked American refusing to go down easily getting an early break and cruising 6-3 capturing the third set to get back in the match giving the New York bipartisan crowd hopes of a big comeback.

With the former 2003 U.S. Open champion finally in a groove with his serve, he began dictating play taking it to his opponent reversing what had been dished out the first two sets. At three apiece on serve, Roddick took the first three points on Djokovic’s serve setting up triple break point. However, the feisty 2008 Australian Open winner wouldn’t give in right away ratcheting up his serve to fight off all three including the second with a perfectly placed inside out forehand crosscourt near the line.

But before he could find his way out of trouble, a determined Roddick pushed on outhitting him to setup a fourth break point. Certainly, this would be the one which would not only get him that one elusive break he needed but be enough to get him even and take the fourth set. Or so everyone watching thought including USA Network/CBS tennis commentator John McEnroe. When he played a perfect point working a now easily flustered Djokovic side to side before nailing a rocket backhand up the line out of his reach for a winner, Roddick finally had that break and was only a couple of service holds away from giving everyone what they came to see. A fifth and final set.

The perfect way for USA’s 25 years of outstanding Open coverage to bow out for good. When he backed it up with four consecutive aces to go up 5-3, there seemed to be little doubt where such a high stakes match was headed. Following a Djokovic hold, Roddick easily took the first couple of points to go up 30-Love. Two more points from destiny and a pro-Andy crowd rocking like it once had for him when he cameback from a couple of sets and match point down versus David Nalbandian before winning the whole thing. Only instead of the inevitable Hollywood finish we were looking for, those two big points never came.

What followed was shocking. After an errant forehand, Roddick double faulted twice to suddenly give Djokovic three straight and his first break point since the second set. It was the only look the big Serb needed as he got an out wide serve back and then after Roddick approached, Djokovic came up with a perfect topspin backhand lob which was out of reach landing a foot inside the baseline.

“You know what? I honestly don’t feel like they were super-tight doubles,” Roddick said. “I had been playing pretty high-risk, high-reward tennis to get back and I probably wasn’t about to stop.”

Just like that, it was five all. Back on serve. Both players would hold one final time to force the fourth set to a tiebreaker. It would be well played. When it looked like he might be done already trailing by a minibreak, Roddick came up with the goods smacking another backhand winner to get it back on serve 4-5.

Here came the two biggest serves of the night. It was on his racket. Exactly where he preferred it to be. The first serve landed deep in the box and couldn’t be handled by Djokovic clocked at 142. Five-all. One more serve for a chance to setup set point. If he could get this one, just maybe not being able to serve it out moments earlier wouldn’t comeback to haunt him.

Here was the point of the match which Djokovic returned to get into and there was Roddick striking the ball as hard as he could trying his best to get it by his opponent hitting every shot well. Inside out forehands. Backhands better than he’d ever struck for most of his career. But on each one, Djokovic hustled and reached out for getting them back. Finally, he decided to change it up going for a slice backhand drop. Only problem was this one didn’t make it over the net handing the guy on the other side the one big break he needed.

“A bad shot,” Roddick admitted after falling 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5).

One big Djokovic serve later, his forehand reply sailed five feet long allowing last year’s runner-up to escape and emphatically point to his chest pounding it almost in anger over the Davis Cup atmosphere and definitely over those comments referencing his health which were really said tongue in cheek by one of the good sports in the game despite what’s at the end of the day a still disappointing career with only one grand slam. The one in which he hugged that trophy after blasting Juan Carlos Ferrero off the court following that comeback versus Nalbandian, who a round earlier that year knocked out Roger Federer. The same guy who hasn’t lost since here in Flushing Meadows.

“It was completely meant in jest,” a disappointed Roddick lamented following one of his toughest defeats when you really felt he had a chance to go all the way much like that special run.

“I should know better. But listen, I joke all the time. I don’t think anyone in their right mind takes me serious.”

To show what kind of character guy he is, he still sought out Djokovic in private clearing up the confusion.

“He made a joke and it was a misunderstanding, so I don’t blame it on him,” Djokovic later indicated an hour later after that postmatch circus which drew the ire. “Maybe I exaggerated and reacted bad in that moment. I apologize.”

What he won’t have to apologize for was summoning up what he needed to finish off a game Roddick who looked poised to do what Tommy Robredo did a round earlier taking it the distance. With already having worked awfully hard to win in four sets over future Croat star Marin Cilic and then overcoming the elements to outlast Robredo, no way Djokovic wanted any part of another extra set. Perhaps he got some help from an unlikely source but he wasn’t saying afterwards.

Instead, he’ll advance to a rematch of last year’s final in which he blew leads in the first two sets tossing away set points before losing in straights to four-time defending champion Federer. He can take solace knowing he exacted revenge ousting the 12-time grand slam winner down under in this same round also in straights even if the Swiss Maestro wasn’t 100 percent battling mono. What tennis player is totally healthy by the end of a challenging two week major?

With the women’s semis scheduled for later today, Djokovic knows he could get another break due to the weather forecast which calls for rain all day tomorrow on Super Saturday. The Open organizers have already started making arrangements with networks to shift the women’s final to Sunday and the men’s to Monday.

That certainly couldn’t hurt his chances. Especially with a very focused Federer waiting looking to pay him back and prove he still has what it takes to win for a fifth straight time and take the final major of what’s been labeled a disappointing season. This despite runner-up in Roland Garros again, losing his Wimbledon crown in epic fashion and a now record 18 straight semifinal appearances in slams.

As for Roddick, he referenced Djokovic’s sarcasm which as recently as last year included dead on impersonations which those same New Yorkers which jeered him loved.

“I figure if you’re going to joke and imitate other people and do the whole deal, then you should take it. Listen, if someone makes fun of me I’m most likely going to laugh,” Roddick pointed out. “I’m sorry he took it that way. … I don’t think I was over the line. It wasn’t my intention, and, you know, I’m sorry he felt that way. Maybe I did him a favor tonight.”

Probably. And in the process, hurt himself though in the end, it was the vaunted serve and that huge point late in the breaker which send him packing.

It might not be the end result he wanted with having sought busy Davis Cup captain and CBS/ESPN analyst Patrick McEnroe’s advice along with coming in with the hottest fiancee anyone’s ever seen in breathtaking SI swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker. So, it’s not all bad for Roddick.

Far from it. But we bet he wished he had those couple of serves over.