Two summers ago, Daniil Medvedev pushed Rafael Nadal to the limit in a five-set US Open final of exquisite quality and heightened intensity. On Sunday, the 25-year-old Russian and No 2 seed at this year’s tournament will look to go one step further and break through for his first grand slam title at the site of his nearest miss and most ennobling defeat.
Medvedev elevated his game when it mattered most on Friday afternoon before coasting to the finish of a 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 win over Canada’s Félix Auger-Aliassime in the first of two US Open men’s semi-finals at Arthur Ashe Stadium. “I don’t think I played my best today, but I’m really happy to be in the final on Sunday,” said the in-form Medvedev, who has won 14 of his last 15 matches and dropped only one set on his way to Sunday’s final. “It was a strange match.”
The 12th-seeded Auger-Aliassime, a 21-year-old from Montreal who is coached by Nadal’s uncle, Toni, was the first Canadian man to reach the last four at the US Open in the tournament’s 140-year history and the second at any major after Milos Raonic at Wimbledon 2016. While initially betraying no indication of nerve, Auger-Aliassime briefly wobbled serving at 3-all in the first and was broken at love, clearing a path for Medvedev to serve out the opener in 38 minutes.
Auger-Aliassime, who tightened up his first serve considerably from the outset of the second, appeared on his way to tying the match at one set apiece when he broke Medvedev in the sixth game and backed it up with a love hold for 5-2. But moments after he wasted two set points on his serve – the second when he dumped a routine forehand volley into the net – Auger-Aliassime was broken once, then again at love, enabling Medvedev to wrest a commanding two-sets-to-none lead.
By then the mental rigor having to work for every point against Medvedev and emotional pressure of his first major semi-final conspired with physical fatigue and the unforced errors started to mount. On rubbery legs, Auger-Aliassime was broken twice early in third as Medvedev glided through the tape with little resistance after just over two hours.
“A strange match, a little bit, in the second set, where I think everybody felt like it’s going to be one-set-all, and you never know where the match is going to go,” said Medvedev, who finished with 37 winners against 25 unforced errors. “Managed to save the set points. He missed one volley; I made one good point. And the match turned around completely.”
For Auger-Aliassime, the youngest man from any country to reach a US Open semi-final since 20-year-old Juan Martín del Potro won the 2009 title, it was a painful lesson to finish a promising fortnight.
“He didn’t give me much openings,” said the Canadian, who made more than twice as many unforced errors (39, including 10 double faults) as winners (17). “Against a player like that, you don’t really have room for mistakes, room for losing your focus, which I did at the end of the second. He took advantage of it and I didn’t get another chance after that.”
Medvedev moves on to Sunday’s final against either top-seeded Novak Djokovic or No 4 Alexander Zverev, who are scheduled to meet in Friday’s headline encounter under the lights. It will be his third appearance in a major final, following a second crack earlier this year against Djokovic at Melbourne Park that proved far more straightforward than his first.
Should Djokovic win on Friday, it will ensure the fourth US Open men’s final of the last quarter-century featuring the top two seeds. The other three all came in the past decade: No 1 Djokovic defeated No 2 Nadal in 2011, No 2 Nadal beat No 1 Djokovic in 2013 and No 1 Djokovic overcame No 2 Federer in 2015.