Unique of its kind: Medvedev was the first Russian tennis player to make it to the US Open final twice in his career

For the semifinal match of the US Open with Canadian Felix Auger-Alyassim, Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev came up as a clear favorite, as evidenced by the bookmaker's quotes. This is not surprising, because the second racket of the world was not only head and shoulders stronger than his rivals in the current American Major, but also lost only one set to Botik van de Sandshulp in the quarterfinals. He had met Auger-Alyassim only once before, in 2018, and then he managed to win.

The Canadian, on the other hand, went through a much more difficult path in the tournament. That was only a five-set match with Roberto Bautista-Agut in the third round, as well as a labor victory over Evgeny Donskoy at the start of the US Open, when a tennis player seeded at number 12 managed to win only through tie-breaks. However, Felix was still worth fearing, since in the quarterfinals he won thanks to the refusal of Carlos Alcaraz in the middle of the second set, which means he had a little more time to recover.

Nevertheless, Medvedev nevertheless repeated his success in 2019 and for the second time in his career made his way to the final of the New York tournament, having dealt with his opponent in a magnificent style and did not give him a single game - 6: 4, 7: 5, 6: 2 ... Daniel once again proved how high-class tennis player is on hard surface (this year he lost only five times). In addition, for the native of Moscow, this is the tenth victory over a tennis player from the top 20 ATP rankings this season.

However, the fight began for him not so rosy. At the start of the match, the underdog tried to fight the favorite and impose his aggressive style. However, the regular unforced mistakes that the Canadian made in fairly simple situations were striking. This played a cruel joke on him in the first set. With the score 3: 3 on the opponent's serve, Daniel exhausted the opponent with long rallies, and he sent the ball out two times in a row, which gave the Russian a psychological advantage. As a result, he made the first break, after which he calmly brought the set to victory.

In the second game, Auger-Alyassim began, it seemed, to make much less mistakes, and the stands added confidence to him. The Canadian managed to give a real fight to Medvedev and implemented a break point in the sixth game. Then Felix took the lead with a score of 5: 2 and had every chance to take the set, but the Russian tennis player first confidently took his own serve, and then won the game against someone else, having played two set points. After that, the real benefit performance of Daniel began, who took 22 draws out of 29 and approached the third game with a solid playing advantage. At the same time, the key factor was actively won points (14 for Medvedev versus five for Alyassim).

The third set turned out to be a mere formality.

The Russian won eight points on reception in those games that ended with a break, while the opponent managed to successfully play his serve only once in them.

Felix was able to finally take the game, but then Daniel put an end to his serve - 6: 2.

Thus, Medvedev in 2 hours and 4 minutes calmly dealt with the Canadian, winning 81% of the points in the first serve.

In the final, he will meet either the legendary Novak Djokovic or the Olympic champion of Tokyo Alexander Zverev.

After the end of the meeting, the Muscovite admitted that he would look with great interest at the confrontation of competitors in a hotel room.

“It's hard to say when I liked going to the final more, two years ago or now.

Then it turned out to be a crazy tournament, before the final all the spectators were against me and there was a special feeling when I turned them in my direction.

Now I play differently, but this is how tennis works: either you develop or you fall down.

You can't stay on the same level.

Although then I also acted well ... We all understand what Djokovic is chasing.

Both Sasha and I have already played with him, but in any case it will be a tight match.

If I meet Novak further, I need to prepare something special for him.

You can't just beat a man who goes to a calendar helmet, ”Medvedev told Eurosport live.

History for Russia!

Daniil Medvedev becomes the first 🇷🇺 man to reach multiple #USOpen singles finals.

pic.twitter.com/aYjIPy3qs7

- US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 10, 2021

At the same time, the Russian stressed that the match with Auger-Alyassim turned out to be not as simple for him as it might seem to some fans.

According to him, in the second set, many were confident in the victory of the Canadian.

“Nobody knew in which direction this fight would swing.

As a result, we managed to play the set point and play some good rallies.

When I won the game, I got the feeling that I could be saved.

The opponent had two set points, and I thought: "Please, only without aces in the line."

At 4: 5, I realized that an important moment comes in the game when I need to do everything at the highest level.

This was the moment when I could break Auger-Allassim morally.

And so it happened, ”Medvedev added.