Elliott: Daniil Medvedev advances to U.S. Open men’s final in three sets

Second-seeded Daniil Medvedev of Russia reached his third Grand Slam singles event final and second at the U.S. Open by relentlessly wearing down No. 12 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada in a 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 victory on Friday at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Medvedev was opportunistic and solid in earning a spot in Sunday’s final against the winner of Friday night’s semifinal involving No. 1 Novak Djokovic and No. 4 Alexander Zverev. Medvedev has lost only one set in getting this far, dropping the third set of his quarterfinal match against Botic van de Zandschulp.

Medvedev had to fend off two set points in the second set against Auger-Aliassime on Friday but escaped both times thanks to a couple of timely shots and some mistakes committed by 21-year-old Auger-Aliassime.

Medvedev reached the Australian Open final earlier this year, where he lost to Djokovic in straight sets. In the 2019 U.S. Open final Medvedev came back from two sets down against Rafael Nadal to force a fifth set, but Nadal held him off.

“It was a strange match a little bit in the second set,” Medvedev said of his match Friday. “I think everybody thought it would be 1-1.”

In saving those two set points, Medvedev said he was able to turn the match around. But he wasn’t sure at the time he could pull it off. He said his overriding thought was, “Don’t make an ace on the line, please. I’m going to make you play.”

Auger-Aliassime was the first Canadian man to reach the singles semifinals of the U.S. Open since the tournament began in 1881.

Auger-Aliassime struggled with his serve early — he committed 10 double faults in the match — but he stayed with Medvedev until the seventh game of the first set. Medvedev then got a break after a series of unforced errors by Auger-Aliassime. Medvedev then held at love to consolidate the break. Auger-Aliassime held serve in the next game, but Medvedev served for the set and finished it out with an ace. The set took only 38 minutes.

The second set stayed on serve until the sixth game, when Auger-Aliassime got the break after Medvedev netted a backhand and then double faulted. That put Auger-Aliassime ahead 4-2, and he held serve for 5-2.

But Medvedev made an impressive comeback. He won the next game at 15 and survived two set points to break Auger-Aliassime in the ninth game, getting the break when Auger-Aliassime sent a backhand wide.

Medvedev pulled even at 5-5 as Auger-Aliassime began to fade. Medvedev broke Auger-Aliassime at love for 6-5 and clinched the set on his second set point opportunity with an ace.

The third set was almost a formality, as Auger-Aliassime seemed to have little energy left — certainly not enough to come back against Medvedev. Auger-Aliassime committed 39 unforced errors to 25 for Medvedev.

“I don’t think I played my best, but I’m happy to be in the final,” said Medvedev, whose plans included watching from the comfort of his hotel room while Djokovic and Zverev square off Friday night.

In the men’s doubles final, No. 4 seeds Rajeev Ram of the U.S. and Joe Salisbury of Britain defeated the No. 7 duo of Jamie Murray of Britain and Bruno Soares of Brazil, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.

In a women’s doubles semifinal, Samantha Stosur of Australia and Shuai Zhang of China defeated Desirae Krawczyk of Palm Desert and Alexa Guarachi of Chile, 6-2, 7-5.

Krawczyk and Joe Salisbury of Britain advanced to the mixed doubles final with a 7-6 (2), 6-4 semifinal victory over Jessica Pegula and Austin Krajicek.

Earlier this year, Krawczyk and Salisbury teamed to win the French Open mixed doubles title. Krawczyk won the Wimbledon mixed doubles championship with Neal Skupski.