Ah, take that. Cilic finds range with the forehand, cross-court and on to the white paint. Cilic is struggling with landing the first serve, but he finally holds on when Nishikori can't control a forehand. Cilic holds and switches ends as the cameras show the spectators outside rushing to get in. Where have you been?

Image source, AP

Jeff Tarango
Former professional tennis player on BBC Radio 5 live

"It's a cold day, a little bit windy, that might affect Cilic's serve."

The bearded Cilic puffs out his cheeks and gets a little excited with a forehand that would have left Nishikori flat-footed. 30-30. Ooofff, another errant forehand. Break point...

Christopher Rowe:, external So many spaces in the Flushing Meadows stadium for a Grand Slam Final. Where are the spectators?

BBC Radio 5 live

It's a very sparsely populated Ashe that the players emerge on to for the first set. Cilic to serve, with BBC Radio 5 live commentary arriving bang on time. One, two bounces of the ball. We're away.

Image source, BBC Sport

Seven-time Grand Slam singles champion John McEnroe tells BBC Sport: "It's a tough one to call. Any time you have two guys that have never been there you don't know what's going to happen. This is one of those coin flips.

"Cilic has a little more left in the tank, Nishikori is the faster, but Cilic moves pretty well for his height. If both guys played well I would go with Cilic in four sets, but it could go either way. Both are going to be very nervous."

Image source, Getty Images

The players have walked out on to a windy early evening on the Arthur Ashe Stadium and have cuddled a moustachioed man before entering the knock-up. Both in mainly white with dark shorts, Nishikori is capped, while Cilic is hatless.

Piers Newbery
BBC Sport at Flushing Meadows

"After two weeks of scorching sun and sweltering humidity, it's overcast, breezy and - at 23C - relatively cool for the final day. The grounds of Flushing Meadows are bursting with Japanese fans and TV crews, and there are plenty of checker-board Croatia shirts on view as the atmosphere builds nicely.

"Boris Becker and Greg Rusedski were out among the crowds earlier, Maria Bueno just held a lift for me - it's quite a day already. And if past form is anything to go by, we should be in form a close contest, with no-one making any confident predictions."

Image source, Reuters

Jack Blackburn:, external Hope Cilic wins the #USOpen tonight. He's been a very good player for a good while, and he won't get a better chance.

JYM:, external It's time for Kei Nishikori to join the pantheon of legends. Do it for Japan. Come on.

Grant Campbell:, external I just feel Nishikori has run out of gas. I fancy Cilic in four long sets with at least one breaker.

Got all that? Feeling up to speed on the two potential 2014 US Open men's singles champions? Then, my question is simple: who is going to win, and why? Text 81111, tweet using the hashtag #bbctennis,, external or head to the BBC Sport Facebook, external page.

Predictions not your bag? Then what's your take on this new-look Grand Slam final? Are you happy to see some new faces, or would it have been better with one of the old guard?

And, if we're talking about the end of a statistical era, then what about this? Has the tennis played by the Federer, Djokovic, Nadal and Murray been the highest-quality sport of any kind in the past 10 years? If not, what has been?

Like Nishikori's win over Djokovic, Cilic's gained most attention for his victory over Federer, but he was also impressive in seeing off world number six Tomas Berdych in the last eight.

Before that, Cilic had to deal with the likes of Marcos Baghdatis, Kevin Anderson and Gilles Simon.

In another similarity to Nishikori, Cilic has his own former Grand Slam winner acting as a coach, in the shape of another huge-serving Croat, Goran Ivanisevic.

If Nishikori is built like a bus ticket, then 6ft 6in world number 12 Cilic is a brick hithouse.

A previous semi-finalist in Melbourne and twice a quarter-finalist in New York, the 25-year-old sat out last year's tournament while serving a ban after testing positive for nikethamide in April, with the original nine-month sanction reduced to four months on appeal -

Cilic claimed he had inadvertently taken the banned substance in an over-the-counter glucose tablet bought in a pharmacy, an explanation accepted by Roger Federer when the Swiss was asked after being beaten in Saturday's semi-final.

Image source, AP

Piers Newbery
BBC Sport at Flushing Meadows

"Kei Nishikori's semi-final finished at 4am in Japan and the nation will be gathering itself for a 6am start today. Such is the interest that we hear it will be shown on terrestrial television, after the rest of the tournament was only available through a subscription channel. Some prime-time breakfast TV viewing."

Image source, Reuters

While it might have been the four-set semi-final win over Novak Djokovic that caused the biggest sensation, Nishikori has also seen himself past Aussie Open champ Stan Wawrinka and fellow rising star Milos Raonic on the way to the final.

Before this year in New York, Nishikori's previous best Grand Slam performance was a run to the last eight in Melbourne in 2012.

Starting with Nishikori, the 24-year-old world number eight from Shimane, Japan.

The man once nicknamed 'Project 45', in reference to compatriot Shuzo Matsuoka, who reached a career-high ranking of 46, pitched up at Nick Bollettieri's academy aged 14 and has lived in Florida ever since.

Often blighted by injuries, Nishikori linked up with former French Open champion Michael Chang in December.

Since then, Nishikori has seen his world ranking rise from 17 and reached his first Masters final in Madrid in May.

Image source, AP

And so to tonight, our final and the two men vying to become the sixth different US Open champion in seven years (Nadal twice, Federer, Murray, Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro are the others).

The giant, big-serving Croat against the little man (in tennis terms) who's big in Japan.

On a basic level, I can tell you in seven previous matches, Nishikori has beaten Cilic five times, with one win each at the US Open.

But there's so much more...

Yep, while it's probably too early to say that this year's US Open is an end of an era - BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller still believes that Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Andy Murray will be the men to beat in Australia in January - then it is certainly the continuation, and possibly most surprising occurrence, of a year that has seen the established order well and truly disturbed.

Stan Wawrinka's win in Australia, a French semi-final for Ernests Gulbis followed by runs to the last four for Grigor Dimitrov and Milos Raonic at Wimbledon.

Now Nishikori and Cilic in New York. The times really are a-changin.

Not since Marat Safin beat Lleyton Hewitt to win the 2005 Australian Open has a Grand Slam final taken place without any of those three names.

When would the dominance end? On one crazy Saturday at Flushing Meadows, we got our answer.

Not one, but two shock semi-final results. The bottom line? The 2014 US Open will see a new Grand Slam champion crowd.

Kei Nishikori and Marin Cilic, your time is now.

Image source, BBC Sport

We could spend our time listing what has changed in those nine years, seven months and nine days, but it would be much easier to list the constants. Three of them to be precise.

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

No more.

Image source, BBC Sport

A tenuous link, perhaps, but when Dylan told us about the changing times, he did so from a studio in New York City.

That was 41 years ago. Tonight, the Big Apple witnesses a change some 3,508 days in the making.