The US Open will see a new edition of the 2021 final. After Novak Djokovic reached the final in the evening, Daniil Medvedev followed suit in the night session. The Russian showed periods of tennis from another planet against Carlos Alcaraz in a world-class match – and thus disenchanted the highly praised defending champion.
Pointer: Daniil Medvedev is in the final of the US Open. Getty Images
Hardly any player is currently as hotly traded in tennis as Carlos Alcaraz. The young Spaniard has had a meteoric rise – and was considered the man to beat at the US Open, after all, the 20-year-old was the defending champion. In the quarterfinals, Alcaraz had a comparatively easy game with a tired Alexander Zverev, but now Daniil Medvedev, 2021 US Open winner, stood in his way in the semifinals.
The Russian had explained in advance that his game would have to be an eleven on a scale of ten if he wanted to beat Alcaraz – the two clear defeats (3:6, 2:6 in the Indian Wells final and most recently 3rd place) should also make him agree with this statement :6, 3:6 and 3:6 in the Wimbledon semi-finals); both times he had seen no land.
This time the 27-year-old from Moscow, who is 1:2 behind in victories in a direct comparison with the world number one, did not want to be shown off: Medvedev started the first set with great concentration, Alcaraz did the same – this is how the expectedly entertaining duel between two players developed. who demanded a lot from each other, raced across the court and offered the almost 24,000 spectators in the Arthur Ashe Stadium some spectacular rallies.
Set 1 was completely balanced, Alcaraz played more aggressively and therefore had more winners, while Medvedev risked more when serving and thus got “easy” points more often. Ultimately, however, it went to a tie-break. The Russian had more staying power in this one, also because Alcaraz made the wrong decision twice. Medvedev secured passage with 7:6 (7:3).
Medvedev with tennis from another planet
The Spaniard was visibly struggling with the lost set, while Medvedev became even more stable – and subsequently scored almost everything. The Russian also had a good early break, also because Alcaraz unnecessarily chased a stop into the net. Inspired by this, Medvedev then showed tennis like it was from another planet. During his own service, he only gave up a single point (!) in this round, while he repeatedly returned the Iberian’s serves strongly and thus pulled his teeth. The world number three played his best tennis and also put some “impossible” balls on the line. At times, the (current) world number one seemed at a loss and ultimately lost the round with a clear score of 1:6.
Let’s hear it: Carlos Alcaraz celebrates a point. IMAGO/USA TODAY Network
Alcaraz returns after 0:2
However, Medvedev couldn’t maintain the extremely high level over the long term, so he let up at the beginning of the third round – and promptly conceded the break. Alcaraz was there again, stabilized himself with his own service and, thanks to a 6:3, soon reduced the gap in sets.
Remarkable: Although the match was exciting and had some great rallies to offer, it got down to business quickly: just 2:20 hours had been played when the fourth round started.
Just a matter of nerves
In this, both players showed two faces: an enormous willingness to run combined with a lot of precision ensured some spectacular rallies, but on the other hand both of them repeatedly allowed themselves unusual weaknesses: Alcaraz was already leading 40:15 in the sixth game, thanks to his service But then it didn’t go through, it went seven times before Medvedev had the break in his pocket.
The Russian was on course for the final, but when the score was 5:3 and his own serve, the audience, which was quite unfair towards the end – they were repeatedly called in when the 27-year-old served – was thrown off his feet. Suddenly it smelled like the fifth set, because Medvedev was wobbling: He fended off three break points in this game and also left three match points unused before he smashed his fourth match point from the net to make it 7:6 (7:3), 6:1, 3:6, 6:3 victory and reached a Grand Slam final for the third time in his career.
On Sunday the final of the US Open will be against Novak Djokovic, who had previously won his semi-final against Ben Shelton from the USA relatively easily with 3-0 in sets.
2023-09-10 09:47:16
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