NEW YORK (AP) — Alexander Zverev will play for his second Grand Slam title this year after beating Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (6) on Friday in the U.S. Open semifinals.
Zverev will play Sunday against No. 8 seed Ben Shelton or No. 11 Frances Tiafoe, who play later Friday for the right to give the U.S. a man in Sunday's final. Both have been semifinalists in Flushing Meadows but neither has reached a major final.
The U.S. is still seeking its first men's Grand Slam champion since Andy Roddick won in New York in 2003.
“Hopefully I can not make the American dream come true on Sunday,” Zverev said.
Zverev finally broke through at the French Open this year and followed by reaching the Wimbledon final, where he lost to Jannik Sinner. The German is 24-2 in Grand Slam matches this season.
“Sometimes just things go your way and I feel like I’ve had a lot of struggles at the major level, I was so close so many times, and maybe this year God has said that this is going to be your year and just enjoy the time on the court,” Zverev said.
Now he will try to win the title that he still can't believe he let get away in 2020. Zverev won the first two sets against Dominic Thiem but then lost in a fifth-set tiebreaker, as Thiem became the first man to win the U.S. Open title after dropping the first two sets since 1949.
Zverev was solid after going up two sets this time, and has won 13 consecutive sets after becoming the first No. 1-seeded man to play five-setters in each of the first two rounds of a major.
Khachanov was trying to reach his first major final after a surprising run in New York. He arrived with a losing record for the season but went on to reach his third Grand Slam semifinal, including second at the U.S. Open.
He started playing better after dropping the first set and then falling behind 2-0 in the second. He finally broke Zverev’s serve to tie it and it stayed even until they went to the tiebreaker. The Russian erased Zverev's first two set points in it before Zverev finished it off by winning a 34-shot rally.
Khachanov then had leads of 3-0 and 5-2 in the third-set tiebreaker before Zverev battled back.
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