Top seed Alexander Zverev out-gunned Karen Khachanov to reach his third straight Grand Slam final on Friday, rolling into the US Open title match with a straight sets win.
Zverev, who followed up his maiden major at the French Open with a runner-up finish at Wimbledon, saved two set points in the final tiebreaker to close out the 6-3, 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (8/6) victory. He needed two hours and 57 minutes to deny 50th-ranked Khachanov’s bid to become the lowest-ranked Grand Slam finalist since number 54 Marcos Baghdatis at the 2006 Australian Open. But when Khachanov took a 6-4 lead in the tiebreaker he surrendered both set points with forehand errors.
He’ll face the winner of the all-American semi-final between eighth-seeded Ben Shelton and 11th seed Frances Tiafoe in Sunday’s championship match. The Russian couldn’t resist a grin when he snuck a passing shot by Zverev to open the fourth game, and flung his arm into the air in celebration three points later when a forehand winner gave him his first break chance of the match, which he converted when Zverev double faulted. From there, they went to the tiebreaker, where Khachanov denied Zverev on two set points with thumping forehand and a brilliant backhand down the line before Zverev closed out the set. Neither player mustered a break point in a tense third set. Zverev came up with his 15th ace and sealed the win on the next point when Khachanov sent a forehand long.
“Second and third set I think it’s more than obvious that they could have gone both ways,” Zverev said. “I just played a few points better here and there, and I’m happy with the win.”
