NEW YORK — Daniil Medvedev was a point from finding himself tied at a set apiece in his US Open semifinal against Felix Auger-Aliassime.
The No. 2-seeded Medvedev surged out of that tight spot, beat a mistake-prone Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 on Friday and now is headed to his third Grand Slam final.
“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 trailed 5-2 in the second. “Managed to save the set points. He missed one volley; I made one good point. And the match turned around completely.”
All in all, this match amounted to an opening act ahead of the headliner: No. 1 Novak Djokovic against No. 4 Alexander Zverev in the second semifinal Friday night.
That, Medvedev told the crowd, figured to be “a great match, so I advise everybody to see it.” He planned to watch it himself after having some dinner delivered.
Djokovic began the day 26-0 at major tournaments in 2021, with titles at the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon, and his sights on becoming the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to complete a calendar-year Grand Slam. Laver was seated in the President’s Box at Arthur Ashe Stadium for Friday’s matches.
Medvedev, a 25-year-old from Russia, was the runner-up to Djokovic at Melbourne Park in February and to Rafael Nadal at Flushing Meadows in 2019. This was Medvedev’s third consecutive trip to the US Open semifinals.
“I don’t think I played my best today,” said Medvedev, who has only dropped one set so far through six matches over the past two weeks, “but I’m really happy to be in the final.”
The 12th-seeded Auger-Aliassime is a 21-year-old from Canada who is coached by Nadal’s uncle, Toni. He was appearing in a major semifinal for the first time.
Maybe the newness of it all affected him. Surely, Medvedev’s play did, too.
Auger-Aliassime finished with 39 unforced errors — including 10 double-faults, three in the opening game alone — and just 17 winners.
Compare that to Medvedev’s numbers, compiled via behind-the-baseline court coverage and slick strokes: 37 winners, 25 unforced errors.
Auger-Aliassime finally earned a break point more than an hour in, and a double fault by Medvedev handed over a 4-2 lead, which quickly became 5-2. But when Auger-Aliassime served for that set at 5-3, he couldn’t get over 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’m going to make you play,”’ Medvedev said afterward.
Twice, he was a point from taking the set. Twice, it didn’t happen, most disconcertingly when he missed what should have been a routine forehand volley, slapping it into the net.
A bad backhand ultimately gave away that game, then more mistakes — a double fault among them — contributed to Auger-Aliassime getting broken at love to trail 6-5.
Medvedev then held to cap a five-game run and claim a two-set lead. The match was 1 1/2 hours old and, essentially, over.
Medvedev and Zverev both are in search of a first Grand Slam title. Djokovic, meanwhile, is trying to win a 21st overall title from the sport’s four most important tournaments, which would break the men’s career mark he shares with Nadal and Roger Federer.
Zverev went into Friday on a 16-match winning streak, including a victory over Djokovic in the Tokyo Olympics semifinals on July 30 along the way to the gold medal. That was a best-of-three-sets match; in New York, the format is best-of-five for men.
