Carlos Alcaraz will take on Daniil Medvedev in a U.S. Open semi-final featuring the last two Flushing Meadows champions after the world number one defeated a drained Alexander Zverev 6-3 6-2 6-4 on Wednesday. Daniil Medvedev, a 27-year-old Russian seeded No. 3, eliminated Andrey Rublev 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the semifinals at Flushing Meadows for the fourth time. Alcaraz will take on 2021 U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev in the final four on Friday, while 23-time Slam champ Novak Djokovic faces unseeded Ben Shelton, a 20-year-old American who’s never been this far at a major. The Associated Press has the story:
Carlos Alcaraz will take on Daniil Medvedev at US Open S/F
Newslooks- NEW YORK (AP)
Carlos Alcaraz found himself in a hint of a predicament 35 minutes into his U.S. Open quarterfinal against Alexander Zverev on Wednesday night.
At 3-all in the first set under the lights in Arthur Ashe Stadium, Zverev earned the first break points of the match. An opening. An opportunity to gain an early edge against the defending champion. And then — poof! — gone. Alcaraz dismissed those chances to hold, then gained a break himself in the next game by depositing an overhead that bounced into the stands. One more service hold arrived and, just like that, the set belonged to Alcaraz, as did, eventually, a spot in the semifinals.
The top-seeded Alcaraz pushed aside Zverev 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 and moved a step closer to becoming the first man to win consecutive titles at Flushing Meadows since Roger Federer collected five in a row from 2004-08.
“(If) I could have broken, it could have gone my way. It didn’t,” Zverev said about that key segment in the match’s seventh game. “Even though I lost the first set, I thought it was going to be a competitive match. I thought my level was there. I thought his level was there. I thought it was going to be a fun one.”
But the 12th-seeded Zverev, a 26-year-old German who was the runner-up at the 2020 U.S. Open, said he felt something bothersome in his left hamstring area early in the second set. And because of that, he explained, sprinting and pushing off properly to serve became problematic.
“I didn’t give up,” said Zverev, who left the court for a medical timeout before the third set, “but there is very little you can do, in a way, against Carlos then.”
There have not been many instances in which anyone has managed to slow down Alcaraz, a 20-year-old from Spain, in any real way over the past year-plus of Grand Slam action.
He improved to 24-1 in his past four major tournaments: After the championship in New York 12 months ago, he sat out the Australian Open with a leg injury, made it to the semifinals of the French Open before cramping up in a loss to Novak Djokovic, and added the Wimbledon trophy by beating Djokovic in the final, before the run over these two weeks.
There could be an Alcaraz vs. Djokovic rematch in Sunday’s final.
“Well, obviously it’s closer than (it was at) the beginning of the tournament,” Alcaraz said with a laugh when asked about that possibility.
“It would be great to play a final against Novak here in New York, but … both of us have really tough semifinals, so let’s see.”
Yes, first things first. Alcaraz will take on 2021 U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev in the final four on Friday, while 23-time Slam champ Djokovic faces unseeded Ben Shelton, a 20-year-old American who’s never been this far at a major.
On a sweltering evening, Alcaraz showed off several aspects of his varied game against Zverev.
The powerful forehands that elicit gasps from the crowd. The delicate drop shots. The hammered returns. The all-court speedy coverage. The willingness to try — and ability to succeed on — shots others wouldn’t even consider.
“I try to make the people enjoy watching tennis, watching the matches,” Alcaraz said during his on-court interview.
“I’ve been trying to do different shots that probably the crowd are not used to seeing in the matches. … That’s what I’m trying — to put a show on,” said Alcaraz, who is 58-6 with six titles in 2023, both tour highs.
There’s also a sense of the moment, knowing when there are points, or games, he absolutely needs to have. On Wednesday, he saved all five break points he faced and converted each of the four he earned in Zverev’s service games.
Alcaraz said he tries to think of those potentially outcome-altering junctures as “normal point; try to do the things that I was doing well. Trying to play my style, trying to (be) aggressive.”
He wound up gathering 11 of 13 points in the stretch that closed the opening set, in part by picking on Zverev’s second serves.
It was a perfect return on a 129 mph (208 kph) first serve that led to a cross-court backhand winner by Alcaraz for the break that tilted the second set his way at 2-1. While Zverev was being tended to by a trainer after that set, Alcaraz whiled away the time by twirling his racket as if it were a baton.
In ‘brutal’ US Open heat, Daniil Medvedev warns during his win that a player is ‘gonna die’
Newslooks- NEW YORK (AP)
Soaked with sweat as the temperature neared 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 Celsius) on the hottest day at this year’s U.S. Open, 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev walked slowly to towel off between points of his victory Wednesday, looked into a courtside camera and issued what sounded like a mix between a warning and a plea.
“You cannot imagine,” he said. “One player (is) gonna die, and they’re gonna see.”
“The only thing that is a little bit, let’s call it dangerous, is that the question is: How far could we go?” Medvedev, a 27-year-old Russian seeded No. 3, said after eliminating Andrey Rublev 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the semifinals at Flushing Meadows for the fourth time.
“I’m not sure what can we do. Because probably we cannot stop the tournament for four days — because it’s been, what, three, four days it’s been brutal like this? — because then it basically ruins everything: the TV, even the tickets, everything. It ruins everything,” said Medvedev, who said he needed an ice bath and something to eat after leaving the court. “So I don’t think this could be done.”
An AP analysis shows that it is feeling hotter and hotter at Grand Slam tournaments in recent decades, reflecting the climate change seen in heat waves around the globe this summer. Week 2 at the U.S. Open is pushing players to the limit.
They’re using ice — so much ice, in plastic bags or wrapped in towels — and courtside tubes blowing cold air to try to stay cool.
Medvedev used an inhaler during a second-set changeover Wednesday while being looked at by a doctor, who checked his breathing with a stethoscope. Rublev leaned back on his sideline chair as if he would rather be anywhere else.
“At the end of the first set, I couldn’t see the ball anymore,” Medvedev said, adding that he looked across the net at No. 8 seed Rublev — his countryman, good pal and godfather to his daughter — and thought: “Wow. It seems like he cannot run anymore.”
Medvedev will get back on court on Friday for his semifinal against defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, a 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 winner over 2020 U.S. Open runner-up Alexander Zverev on Wednesday night. Alcaraz saved all five break points he faced and converted all four he earned on Zverev’s serve.
The other men’s semifinal is 23-time major champ Novak Djokovic vs. unseeded Ben Shelton.
Medvedev wore a white towel around his neck during the on-court interview at Arthur Ashe Stadium after finishing off the 2-hour, 48-minute match, which is relatively short for a best-of-five-set Grand Slam men’s match.
Medvedev said he felt dizzy afterward and that both he and Rublev rubbed their faces raw by toweling off so frequently. Rublev described feeling his heart racing between points.
Asked about his level of concern on a day like that, Rublev said: “I’m not even thinking about my health.”
Under a new rule adopted on Tuesday for the rest of the event, the U.S. Tennis Association partially closed the retractable Ashe roof — normally used to block out rain — to provide some additional protection from the sun for spectators and competitors.
One unintended result: The shadows can make it hard to see the tennis balls as they zip through the air.
Zheng Qinwen, the No. 23 seed who defeated 2022 runner-up Ons Jabeur in her previous match, said that dynamic bothered her during a 6-1, 6-4 loss to Aryna Sabalenka.
Sabalenka won 20 of the initial 24 points to race to a 5-0 lead after just 17 minutes.
She reached the semifinals for the fifth major in a row and will rise from No. 2 to No. 1 in the WTA rankings next week, replacing 2022 U.S. Open champion Iga Swiatek, who exited in the fourth round.
As for the weather? Sabalenka, a 25-year-old from Belarus, said her training base in the United States prepared her well for the heat and humidity, which rose above 50%.
“I mean, it was hot, but because I did my preparation in Florida — I mean, what can be worse than Florida? I mean, in July and June, you know. Not, like, overall,” said Sabalenka, who has dropped a total of just 21 games through five matches over the past 1 1/2 weeks. “So I think that’s really (helping) me today to stay strong and (not) really get tired because of the heat.”
She improved to 7-0 in major quarterfinals as she seeks her second Slam trophy to go alongside the one she won at the Australian Open in January.
In Thursday night’s semifinals, Sabalenka will meet 2017 U.S. Open finalist Madison Keys, an American who saved all nine break points she faced during a 6-1, 6-4 victory over reigning Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova. The other women’s semifinal will be No. 6 Coco Gauff against No. 10 Karolina Muchova; they won their quarterfinals Tuesday.
“It’s going to be a lot of hard hitting, not a lot of long points,” said Keys, who lost to Sabalenka at Wimbledon in July. “Just going to try to buckle up and get as many balls back as I can.”
Keys vs. Vondrousova was interrupted for eight minutes at deuce in the first game, when a spectator in the lower level needed medical attention. Keys brought two towels and a bottle of water over to where the fan was being helped. The U.S. Tennis Association said the episode was not heat-related.
Medvedev won nine of his 15 return games against Rublev, who is now 0-9 in major quarterfinals.
Now Medvedev gets some time to try to recover.
