So doubters, I hope you trust my forecasts now! When I wrote 10 days back that I expected Rafael Nadal to be out and Andy Murray to storm into the US Open final, many doubts were raised!

Before I get drunk on my own heady minor success, let me say that I also forecast in the same article that while Roger Federer would get into the semi-finals, he would lose to Novak Djokovic, so I was off on that!

I have to say that I'm delighted that the real Fedex is surfacing again, if not entirely 100 per cent. I hope he wins the final, but on the other hand, I saw him practice yesterday and was confused. Why? I'll cover that later.

I was the only one among my family group who was supporting Andy Murray, and very vociferously too. In fact, the people seated right ahead of me complained that I was too loud! Thankfully they understood, because there were very few Murray supporters around.

The court would erupt when Nadal won a point and would have a smattering of applause when Andy carved a point. The good part of being in a minority is that when you are vindicated, it’s doubly satisfying, and thanks to Andy I could celebrate.

Now before you jump to the conclusion that I don't like Nadal, he is a great player, someone who was just considered a good clay court player and is now feared on every surface. I just felt that the long season was about to catch up with him and I expected him to go out in the quarter-finals. But he still made it to the semis, just to show what a great player he is.

What I liked about Andy was that, even when he lost the third set, he never lost the drive to take the game to Rafa. I was not surprised at his win, even though almost the entire stadium seemed to be!

Now can he dethrone the King in the final? Andy is playing with great confidence. He has the skills, he hits the shots with conviction and, just in case you didn't know or forgot, he has a winning 2-1 head-to-head record against Federer. And don't forget, Andy won the Junior US Open title in 2004 so he knows his way around Flushing Meadows.

However, something tells me that Federer is not about to give up just like that. The man is on a 33-match winning streak at the US Open and he showed in the final stages of the Djokovic clash that he is still the master of his craft.

I must mention that, as the Nadal-Murray match was in progress, I saw Federer go into the practice court. I stopped watching the Nadal match and focused on what I thought was going to be an intense practice session by Federer, but he stayed not more than 20 minutes, hit a few balls and serves with his hitting partner, and was gone before I could say Roger Federer.

Maybe he was out there just for the heck of it, or just to stay loose, or maybe changed his mind about a long practice session, but I was surprised that he left so quickly.

I still think Federer will win the title. In the last one-and-a-half sets against Djokovic, I felt that he was sharp, gained confidence rapidly and didn't let up. I think the final will be a four-setter and we'll see some good action in the second and third sets with the Swiss master prevailing.