Federer is closing in on a ninth Grand Slam title

Federer will play Andy Roddick or Mikhail Youzhny in the final after seeing off Russia's Davydenko 6-1 7-5 6-4 in one hour 41 minutes.

The top seed raced through the first set but needed two breaks in each of the second and third sets.

"I played a great first set and thought I played really well," said Federer.

News conference: Roger Federer

"Again in the final is a great feeling and it's great to be in the final of all four majors this year."

Federer has already won Wimbledon and the Australian Open in 2006, and lost to Rafael Nadal in the French Open final.

That's why I think he's winning everything, because he plays completely different Nikolay Davydenko

If he wins on Sunday he will be only the third man to record a hat-trick of US Open title wins in the open era after John McEnroe (1979-81) and Ivan Lendl (1985-87).

It will also be his ninth Grand Slam title, five short of the all-time record held by Pete Sampras.

Federer went into his semi-final with a 7-0 record against Davydenko and never looked like suffering a shock defeat.

He broke serve in the second game and took the opening set in just 21 minutes.

The only weakness Federer has shown recently is occasionally failing to consolidate breaks of serve, and he let Davydenko back into the second before making the decisive breakthrough in game 11.

It was a similar story in the third set but Federer's extra power off the ground meant he was always a threat on Davydenko's serve.

The most alarming moment of a relatively comfortable afternoon for Federer saw him lose a 40-0 lead when serving for the match, but the world number held his nerve to secure a final place.

Davydenko had taken Federer to a fourth-set tie-break in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open but admitted he did not get close this time.

"In Australia, I had control from the baseline but today he was hitting too fast," said the seventh seed.

"Today was short points and he tried to hit faster. It's really different tennis. He's number one. That's why I think he's winning everything, because he plays completely different."