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US Open: Russian Daniil Medvedev knocks defending champion Carlos Alcaraz out of the tournament in New York
Photograph:
Eduardo Munoz Alvarez / dpa
Daniil Medvedev defeated defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals of the US Open and thus burst the Spaniard's giant duel with Novak Djoković. Medvedev prevailed against the world number one after an impressive performance 7: 6 (7: 3), 6: 1, 3: 6, 6: 3 and is now playing against Grand Slam record winner Djoković for his second title in Flushing Meadows after 2021.
"To beat a player like Carlos is great, he's number one for a reason. I knew that I had to play 11 out of 10 in terms of level to survive today – and I played 12 out of 10," Medvedev said on the stadium microphone: "But it has to be even better against Novak."
Djoković had previously won 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) against youngster Ben Shelton from the USA and is facing his 22th major title in his tenth US Open final on Sunday (24 p.m. CEST / Sportdeutschland.TV). The Serb, who now has the opportunity to take revenge for the final he lost to Medvedev two years ago, will replace Alcaraz as number one after the tournament. Last year, Djokovic was unable to compete in New York due to a lack of corona vaccination.
Making amends for the defeat in the semifinals of Wimbledon
Medvedev, who had clearly lost to Alcaraz in the semifinals of Wimbledon, converted his fourth match point after 3:18 hours of the best tournament game. Alcaraz, who clearly defeated the ailing Olympic champion Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals, missed the chance to become the youngest two-time champion of the US Open
After a nervous start, the match quickly picked up speed, in the decisive phase of the first set both showed inspiring tennis. Alcaraz played sensational stops, but made slight mistakes in the tie-break. After losing the set, the Spaniard seemed knocked out, lost his first service game in the second round and also conceded a second break against the ever-stronger Medvedev to make it 1-5.
Alcaraz, who had never made up for a 0-2 set deficit in his young career, came back and broke for the first time in the match to make it 3-1 - suddenly the old security was back and with the set win also the belief in a comeback. In round four, Alcaraz missed three breakballs at 1-1, which took revenge: Medvedev took the serve from the favorite to make it 4-2 - and there was suddenly silence among the 23,000 spectators in the world's largest tennis stadium.
Medvedev served to win at 5: 3, but the service game was fiercely contested: Medvedev fended off three breakballs, he missed three match points, the first by double fault. But Medvedev fought his way to the finish line with a show of strength.
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