The length of the match is enough to sum up the harshness of the fight – essentially two sets – played once again in rather stifling humid conditions, which ended up weighing much more on Draper’s physical resistance than on Sinner’s.
But the latter, the first Italian to reach the final of the US Open, did not stroll, far from it. If he always led the race and if, to tell the truth, we never really worried about him, he nevertheless had to fight hard to finally get his opponent’s sticking plaster. The fault in particular was a certain lack of realism on break points (4/11), especially in the second set (0/4), which prevented him from taking off more quickly.
The fact remains that he ended up winning in three sets and breaking seven times, while Draper, let’s remember, had not conceded a single set until now and had only lost his serve three times since the start of the tournament. Sinner did Sinner again by showing himself to be particularly “clutch” in important moments, notably during a tie break in the second set negotiated to perfection: the Transalpine, who also lined up a tenth success after his title in Cincinnati, has not let a decisive game slip away since his quarter-final loss at Wimbledon against Daniil Medvedev, while he was ill.
📊 They have won at least 22 Grand Slam matches in a single season (Open era):
🇦🇺 Rod Laver (1969)
🇨🇿 Ivan Lendl (1987)
🇸🇪 Mats Wilander (1988)
🇩🇪 Boris Becker (1989)
🇺🇸 Jim Courier (1993)
🇺🇸 Pete Sampras (1993)
🇺🇸 Andre Agassi (1995, 1999)
🇨🇭 Roger Federer (2004,… pic.twitter.com/Bnfra0NISq— Game, Set and Maths (@JeuSetMaths) September 6, 2024
Between these two “old” rivals and nevertheless friends from the 2001 class, the game was played, as expected, at a fast pace. But with too much inconsistency on both sides to really make it a great match. Including on Sinner’s side, who suffered a small lapse in losing his serve – for the only time in the match – just after breaking himself, in the middle of the first set. Without consequence, Draper cracked again at 5-5 by committing one of his 10 double faults of the match, a sign of his nervousness for what was, at 22, his first major semi-final.
“Galette” on the court, fall at the back and stratospheric passing: the match takes off in two games
The Briton hung on like hell at the start of the second set to stay in the wheel of his opponent who was nevertheless pushing really hard to unhook him. A great effort, but a violent effort in which he would leave feathers, to the point of vomiting on the court at 4-3, in the middle of a disputed game. A failure that had already happened to him at the start of the year at the Australian Open, proof that his resistance to difficult conditions can still be improved, probably the point on which he will have to work to reach the heights to which he can now legitimately aspire, he who will be top 20 on Monday.
In a decidedly agitated end to the second set, Sinner, for his part, had his biggest scare in the following game, at 4-4: on a bad support in defense, he fell in the heart of the exchange, near the baseline tarpaulin, got up to hit a stratospheric forehand passing shot – certainly the point of the match – but immediately held his wrist, before calling the physiotherapist at the next change of ends. More fear than harm in the end for the Italian who resumed his demolition work without blinking, finally winning, as we have said, this second set in the deciding game.
The hardest part was then done. Because behind, Draper stopped physically, leaving Sinner to roll without trembling towards a victory that had become inevitable. At 23, Jannik will therefore play his second Grand Slam final after the epic one he won at the beginning of the year against Daniil Medvedev. On Sunday, he will attempt a double Australian Open-US Open which, apart from the unclassifiable Big Three, has not been achieved since Mats Wilander in 1988. A feat that Aryna Sabalenka will also aim for, for a “double double” men-women this time never achieved since that same year 1988 (Wilander and Steffi Graf).
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