U.S. Open: Daniil Medvedev pulls off upset of Carlos Alcaraz to advance to final
Daniil Medvedev reacts to the crowd after defeating Carlos Alcaraz in their U.S. Open men’s semifinal in Arthur Ashe Stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Friday. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Daniil Medvedev slew another dragon, and he again did it by being the best version of himself.
Two years after defeating Novak Djokovic in the U.S. Open final — the Russian’s only Grand Slam final victory — Medvedev took down top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz, 7-6 (3), 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, in an Open semifinal Friday.
And his opponent in the final Sunday? No one other than his old pal, Djokovic.
“Novak is going to be his best version on Sunday, and I have to be the best-ever version of myself if I want to try to beat him,” Medvedev said.
The turning point came in the sixth game of the fourth set when the third-seeded Medvedev broke Alcaraz to punctuate a 20-point game. Alcaraz got it to game point five times without being able to convert, and Medvedev finally made him pay as Alcaraz netted a volley to give the Russian the 4-2 advantage. He eventually won the match on his third game-point attempt — a forehand overhand that Alcaraz simply couldn’t reach.
It’s the third time Medvedev has faced Alcaraz this year, and his first win. “I thought better player finding solutions when the match is not going in the right direction,” Alcaraz said. “But after this match, I’m going to change my mind. I’m not mature enough to handle these kinds of matches. So I have to learn about it.”
Down 5-4 in the first set, Medvedev found another level, winning a five-volley point at net for one of the best sequences of the day, and eventually sent the set to a tiebreak. That’s when he won two of Alcaraz’s serve points before slamming a forehand winner to take the tiebreak.
Medvedev ended up winning 16 of 18 points on his serve in the second-set rout. The Spaniard, though, found his footing in the third set, going up 4-1 before eventually closing it out on Medvedev’s unforced backhand into the net.
Medvedev had nine aces to Alcaraz’s none, won 82% of first- service points and saved eight of nine break points.
“To know I’m capable of doing it on the big stage, every time you do it one more time, brings more confidence,” Medvedev said. “You know you can do it again. You want to do it again. You want to feel this.”
Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.
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