US Open Tennis 2016 Results: Friday Winners, Scores, Stats, Singles Draw Update

The 2016 U.S. Open is nearing its end after two weeks of intense action, with the men's semifinals being the centerpiece of Friday's action. 

Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka entered the semifinals as the favorites to reach the final, but they faced stiff tests from Gael Monfils and Kei Nishikori, respectively. 

Djokovic and Wawrinka were able to take care of business, albeit with some bumps along the way, setting up what will be an epic encounter to determine the year's final Grand Slam winner. 

Here are the results from the two semifinal matchups:

Match	Winner	Score
No. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. No. 10 Gael Monfils	Djokovic	6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2
No. 3 Stan Wawrinka vs. No. 6 Kei Nishikori	Wawrinka	4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-2

Men's Singles Final

Date	Matchup	Start Time (ET)	Network
Sunday, September 11	No. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. No. 3 Stan Wawrinka	4 p.m.	ESPN

Novak Djokovic def. Gael Monfils (6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2)

Djokovic advanced to his 21st career Grand Slam final with a win over Monfils, though it was not a vintage performance from the world's top-ranked player. 

In fact, Djokovic was sloppier than usual. He had just one ace in the four sets and finished with seven double-faults. There were extenuating circumstances due to lingering shoulder problems on the left and right side that required attention during the match. 

Djokovic was able to withstand the physical pain long enough to put Monfils away, though the No. 10 seed did not do himself any favors with 11 double-faults and 52 unforced errors.

The entire match was something to behold, but not in a good way. The temperatures on the court were not favorable with 90-degree heat and a lot of humidity. 

Monfils took a seat on the chair during the fourth set when there was no changeover, nor did he need any kind of medical attention. 

It looked as if Monfils was trying to play mind games with Djokovic, and it seemed to work in the third set, resulting in tennis' best men's player acting like Hulk Hogan. U.S. Open Tennis provided the visual evidence on Twitter:

Per Bryan Armen Graham of the Guardian, Monfils had moments during the match when he was dominating Djokovic:

This match was a perfect summation of how unusual this tournament has been for Djokovic. He's in the final, which is all that ultimately matters, but he didn't have to play in the second round because Jan Vesely was unable to play due to injury, followed by Mikhail Youzhny retiring late in the first set of their third-round match and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga retiring after two sets in the quarterfinals. 

Given the current state of Djokovic's shoulders, he's got a lot of work to do Saturday to be anywhere close to 100 percent if he hopes to win his third career U.S. Open title. 

Stan Wawrinka def. Kei Nishikori (4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-2)

After Nishikori came out of the gate strong, winning the first set in just 29 minutes, Wawrinka grinded out the next three to secure his first-ever trip to the U.S. Open final. 

The second set was a clear turning point in the match. Wawrinka and Nishikori went back and forth for an hour before this mistake from Nishikori gave Wawrinka the set point, via U.S. Open Tennis:

Some of the problems that came up during the Djokovic-Monfils match came up in this battle, particularly the hot and humid temperatures inside Arthur Ashe Stadium with the roof closed. 

Tennis journalist Tumaini Carayol tweeted a comment made by Wawrinka to the officials in the middle of the match:

It would be a mistake to say that Wawrinka got stronger as the match went on. He was just able to last longer in the brutal conditions than Nishikori, who started at 100 on the video-game health meter and gradually descended to almost nothing by the time the final set ended.  

Both players went through grueling quarterfinal battles. Nishikori needed five sets and four hours to get past Murray, while Wawrinka needed three hours and played past 1 a.m. into Thursday morning against Juan Martin del Potro. 

Wawrinka just had better stamina throughout the match, overcame a poor start and has given himself a chance to win the U.S. Open for the first time.