Nadal, by far the most merited in the starting field when the men's semi-finals were decided, defeated Italian pitcher Matteo Berrettini. The victory figures were written to 7-6 (8-6), 6-4, 6-1.

Berrettini stood against the Spanish favorite well in the first set, and despite several break balls against him, he never let go of his serve. In the tiebreak he led with 4-0 and 6-4 and his own serve, but failed to win the set. In the second set, he kept pace with Nadal to 3-3, when a frustrated world fool could make his first serve breakthrough.

- The first set was a little frustrating and I was lucky enough to win it. When I finally got a break in the others decided it, Nadal said in the victory interview after the game.

After the breakthrough, Berrettini took just two more games

Now Nadal has full focus on the finals, where he has the chance to take his 20th single in the Grand Slam and approach Roger Federer who has the record with 20.

- Now I just want to enjoy tomorrow (Saturday) and get a good workout and be in the best shape on Sunday.

In the final, Nadal is set against Daniil Medvedev. The Russian 23-year-old is in the first grand slam of his life after defeating Grigor Dimitrov in three straight sets in his semi-final. Behind the numbers 7–6 (7-5), 6–4, 6–3 hides a lot of drama, especially from the first set where Dimitrov was the better of the players, but missed in the crucial positions.

The US Open men's final is played on Sunday evening.