New York (AFP) – Top seed Alexander Zverev out-gunned Karen Khachanov to reach his third straight Grand Slam final on Friday, rolling into the US Open title match with a straight sets win. Zverev, who followed up his maiden major at the French Open with a runner-up finish at Wimbledon, saved two set points in the final tiebreaker to close out the 6-3, 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (8/6) victory.
He’ll face the winner of the all-American semi-final between eighth-seeded Ben Shelton and 11th seed Frances Tiafoe in Sunday’s championship match. The German predicted an “absolutely epic” contest between the two Americans, after which he’ll be out to thwart the winner’s bid to become the first American man in 23 years to lift a Grand Slam trophy. “Hopefully I can not make the American dream come true on Sunday,” said Zverev, who came agonizingly close to the US Open title in 2020 before falling to Dominic Thiem in five sets.
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After a somewhat inauspicious start to the tournament, spending nine hours and 26 minutes on court in laborious five-set victories in the first and second rounds, Zverev has steadily upped his game. He needed two hours and 57 minutes to deny 50th-ranked Khachanov’s bid to become the lowest-ranked Grand Slam finalist since number 54 Marcos Baghdatis at the 2006 Australian Open. But the Russian, who fell to Zverev in the Olympic gold medal match in Tokyo in 2021, put up a spirited challenge in the second and third sets.
“Straight-set win, but anything but straightforward in a way,” Zverev said. “He played incredibly well, fought incredibly well.” Unable to make any real headway in the first set, Khachanov fell a quick break down in the second. The Russian couldn’t resist a grin when he snuck a passing shot by Zverev to open the fourth game, and flung his arm into the air in celebration three points later when a forehand winner gave him his first break chance of the match, which he converted when Zverev double faulted. From there, they went to the tiebreaker, where Khachanov denied Zverev on two set points with a thumping forehand and a brilliant backhand down the line before Zverev closed out the set.
Neither player mustered a break point in a tense third set. But when Khachanov took a 6-4 lead in the tiebreaker, he surrendered both set points with forehand errors. Zverev came up with his 15th ace and sealed the win on the next point when Khachanov sent a forehand long. “Second and third set I think it’s more than obvious that they could have gone both ways,” Zverev said. “I just played a few points better here and there, and I’m happy with the win.”
A somber note was struck during the national anthem ceremonies of both the day and night sessions on the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks that brought down the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York. Shelton vanquished defending champion and seven-time Grand Slam winner Carlos Alcaraz in an enthralling five-set quarter-final clash that lasted until 3:34 am — the latest finish in US Open history. Having notched the biggest win of his career, Shelton is now chasing his first major final.
So is Tiafoe as they duel to have a chance to be the one to end American men’s Grand Slam drought, which stretches back to Andy Roddick’s 2003 US Open victory. Shelton leads their head-to-head, but they have split two prior US Open meetings, Shelton winning in the 2023 quarter-finals and Tiafoe turning the tables in the third round the following year.
The women’s final is on Saturday, when Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina will try to thwart Aryna Sabalenka’s bid for a third straight title just days after ending the Belarusian’s near two-year reign atop the world rankings by reaching the semi-finals.
© 2024 AFP
