New York: World No.1 Novak Djokovic kept his bid for a grand slam alive on Friday, overcoming German Alexander Zverev 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 in the US Open semi-finals.
Djokovic moved within one win of reaching a men’s record 21 grand slam titles and avenged his loss to Zverev at the Tokyo Olympics in front of a roaring crowd inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, with Rod Laver, the last person to complete a calendar slam 52 years ago, looking on.
The Serbian will face Russian Daniil Medvedev in Sunday’s final, after the world No.2 sent off 21-year-old Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in his semi-final.
Novak Djokovic.Credit: AP
Djokovic handed the German his first break of the night with a double fault in the first set but otherwise showed no mercy, firing off 41 winners and a dozen aces across the entire match.
The third set was a matter of survival of the fittest. Djokovic had a 40-0 head start in the 10th game only to see Zverev fend off two break points through marathon rallies, including a 53-shot exchange, before he broke the German’s serve for the set point.
Tied at two sets a piece, Djokovic won a 30-shot rally for the early break, but after fending off four break points saw Zverev convert in the seventh game. He broke Zverev’s serve in the next game before hoisting his arms aloft to wild cheers from the crowd.
“I’d like to say thank you, because the atmosphere was amazing,” Djokovic said on-court.
“I’m going to treat the next match like it’s the last match of my career.”
While one more victory will mean Djokovic is the first man to win all four major tournaments in the same year since Laver in 1969, German woman Steffi Graf also achieved the feat in 1988.
Djokovic’s victory came after Medvedev destroyed Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in the semi-finals.
When Medvedev reached his first US Open final in 2019, he lost a gruelling five-set match against Rafael Nadal after what he called a “crazy” tournament, including a feud with the New York crowd.
But this time, he said on Saturday (AEST) after his 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 demolition of Auger-Aliassime, everything is different - starting with his desire to win.
The 2019 runner-up looked rock-solid at the start, firing off seven aces and never facing a break point in the first set, where he had just five unforced errors and broke Auger-Aliassime’s serve in straight points in the seventh game.
Down a break in the next set, Medvedev looked like he might be in trouble but Auger-Aliassime twice failed to clinch on set point in the ninth game and Medvedev broke his serve.
A double fault from Auger-Aliassime in the 11th game – one of 10 across the entire match – helped Medvedev to another break before the Russian ran away with the momentum into the third set, where he dropped just one first-serve point.
The world No.2 has carved a comfortable path through the draw to reach his third major final, dropping only a single set in six matches and wrapping up his win over Auger-Aliassime in a brisk two hours and four minutes.
Daniil Medvedev celebrates his US Open semi-final win.Credit: Getty Images
“Let’s be honest, I was already happy being in the final,” the Russian said of the 2019 tournament. “I was not feeling like it’s a must to win.”
His 2019 US Open was far more eventful. He said he endured severe cramping in his second-round match and suffered a tear in his quadriceps during a win over Stan Wawrinka.
More memorably, he earned the enmity of the fans during a third-round match, when he angrily snatched a towel from a ball person and then showed the crowd his middle finger.
But his subsequent apology, and his riveting performance in the final after dropping the first two sets, turned him from villain to hero.
“This year I didn’t have the stories, and that’s a good thing,” Medvedev said.
The 25-year-old is still searching for his first major title after losing to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final earlier this year.
“The more you lose something, the more you want to win it, the more you want to gain it and take it,” he said. “I lost two finals. I want to win the third one.”
Alcott closer to the ‘golden slam’
Paralympics gold medallist Dylan Alcott is another step closer to completing a “golden slam” after winning his US Open wheelchair quad singles quarter-final.
Significantly, the 30-year-old won’t need to beat one of his toughest opponents, Dutchman Sam Schroder, to achieve the slam after the 21-year-old was upset by a younger countryman in New York.
Alcott and Schroder have met in four of the past five major finals, with the Australian veteran victorious each time except last year’s US Open decider. Alcott also fought off a strong challenge from Schroder in the Tokyo Paralympics gold medal match one week ago.
Alcott, winner of 14 major titles including seven Australian Opens in his wheelchair class, started his US Open campaign with a clinical 6-0, 6-1 victory over American Bryan Barten.
In another quarter-final, Schroder was eliminated 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 by 18-year-old Dutchman Niels Vink. Alcott also defeated Vink in the semi-finals in Tokyo.
Reuters, AP and theage.com.au
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