NEW YORK – Daniil Medvedev was on the verge of a draw in a match in his US Open semifinal against Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Medvedev, No. 2 seed, came out of that tight spot, beating Auger-Aliassime on Friday with error issues by 6-4, 7-5 and 6-2 and is now heading into his third final of the Grand Slam.
“A weird game, a little bit, in the second set, in which I think everyone felt like it was going to be a set and you never know where the game is going to go,” said Medvedev, who followed 5-2 in the second. . “We managed to save the set points. I missed a volley; I made a good point. And the game turned completely.”
All in all, this match was a first act ahead of the headliner: No. 1 Novak Djokovic against No. 4 Alexander Zverev in the second semifinal on Friday night.
This, according to Medvedev, seemed “a great match, so I advise everyone to see it.” He planned to see it himself after delivering dinner.
Djokovic started 26-0 in the major tournaments of 2021, with titles at the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon, and his intention to become the first man since Rod Laver on 1969 to complete a Grand Slam of the calendar year. Laver was sitting in the president’s box at Arthur Ashe Stadium for Friday’s games.
Medvedev, a 25-year-old from Russia, was runner-up to Djokovic at Melbourne Park in February and Rafael Nadal to Flushing Meadows in 2019. This was Medvedev’s third consecutive trip to the semifinals of the US Open.
“I don’t think I’ve played the best I can today,” said Medvedev, who has only dropped one set so far in six games in the past two weeks, “but I’m very happy to have been in the final.”
Auger-Aliassime, 12th, is a 21-year-old Canadian who is trained by Christmas Uncle Toni. He first appeared in a major semifinal.
Perhaps the novelty of it all affected him. Surely Medvedev’s work did the same.
Auger-Aliassime finished with 39 unforced errors (including 10 double faults, three in the opening game only) and only 17 winners.
Compare that to Medvedev’s numbers, compiled through court coverage behind the baseline and the hits: 37 winners, 25 unforced errors.
Auger-Aliassime finally gained a break point more than an hour later, and a double foul by Medvedev gave them a 4-2 lead, which quickly turned 5-2. But when Auger-Aliassime served for that set at 5-3, he couldn’t cross the line, even after going up 30-love and 40-30.
“The only thing I was thinking,‘ Don’t make an ace on the line, please, and I’ll make you play, ’” Medvedev said afterwards.
Twice, he was about to take the set. Twice, it didn’t happen, bafflingly, when she missed what should have been a routine volleyball routine, which hit her on the net.
A bad setback in the end left out this game and then more errors (a double foul between them) contributed to Auger-Aliassime breaking for love until 6-5.
Medvedev then held on to five games and got a two-set difference. The match was an hour and a half old and basically over.
Medvedev and Zverev are looking for a first Grand Slam title. Meanwhile, Djokovic is trying to win a 21st overall title in the sport’s four most important tournaments, which would break the men’s career mark he shares with Nadal and Roger Federer.
Zverev entered a 16-win streak on Friday, including a win over Djokovic in the semifinals of the Tokyo Olympics on July 30 on the way to the gold medal. It was a match of the best of three sets; in New York, the format is the best of the five for men.