Carlos Alcaraz took down 24-times major winner Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 with clinical precision on Friday to reach the US Open final, prevailing in a blockbuster showdown that packed the house at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Similar crowds can be expected at Flushing Meadows today after the top-ranked Jannik Sinner ensured a scintillating title clash between the young torchbearers of men’s tennis by seeing off Canadian 25th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
It will be the pair’s third Grand Slam final meeting of the year, after Spaniard Alcaraz saved three matchpoints to keep his French Open title in June, before surrendering his Wimbledon crown to the Italian the following month.
Photo: AFP
Well before they cemented their status as superstars of the modern era, Alcaraz and Sinner had clashed in the US Open quarter-final, where the Spaniard prevailed after five bruising sets before going on to win the title.
“I love these challenges. I love to put myself in these positions,” Sinner said. “He’s someone who pushed me to limit, which is great, because you have the best feedback you can have as a player. We’ve faced each other quite a lot now lately, so things are getting a little bit different.”
Friday’s first semi-final was billed as the hottest ticket in New York, and it lived up to the hype, with a scoreline that belied its intensity, as 2022 champion Alcaraz soaked in deafening cheers on match point.
WEAR AND TEAR
Djokovic won their two most recent meetings, including in the quarter-final of the Australian Open earlier this year, but the 38-year-old showed wear and tear against Alcaraz, 16 years his junior.
“It’s something that I’m working on, just the consistency on the matches, on the tournaments, on the year in general,” said Alcaraz, who already has five major titles in his career as compared with Sinner’s four. “Just not having ups and downs in the match. Just the level that I start the match, I just wanted to keep that level really high during the whole match.”
Djokovic dropped his serve when he sent a shot past the baseline in the opening game and was unable to set up a single break point chance in the first set, which Alcaraz closed out with an unreturnable serve.
Urged on by the celebrity-packed stands, the seventh seed got in the fight in the next set, sending over a superb backhand to convert on a break point in the second game.
However, Alcaraz had not dropped a set in New York and was not about to start as he put his foot on the gas, setting up a break point after surviving a 16-shot rally with one of his fine forehand winners and converting from the baseline.
Down 0-2 in the tiebreak, Djokovic outlasted his opponent in a cheeky exchange at the net before pausing to take in the roars of the crowd, a reminder of his perennial appeal two decades after his Flushing Meadows main draw debut.
However, the undeterred Spaniard kept his nerve, closing out the tiebreak with two more huge serves, before Djokovic gifted him a break point with an untimely double fault in the fourth game of the third set.
‘LEGEND’
“It’s not easy playing against him, to be honest,” said Alcaraz, who hit twice as many winners as his opponent. “I’m thinking about the legend, what he has achieved in his career. It’s difficult not to think about it. That makes facing him even tougher.”
The writing was on the wall for Djokovic as he hit another double fault on the penultimate point of the match, and he leaned on the net, congratulating his opponent with a grin after handing over the contest with a wide forehand.
“It’s frustrating on the court when you’re not able to keep up with that level physically. At the same time, it’s something expected,” said Djokovic, who won the last of his four US Open titles in 2023. “It comes with time and with age.”
The US Open was to resume after press time last night, with the women’s singles final, where American Amanda Anisimova aimed to derail Aryna Sabalenka’s title defense while chasing a maiden Grand Slam title.
Jonas Vingegaard on Tuesday claimed the overall Vuelta a Espana lead while Jay Vine earned the stage 10 victory for his second triumph of the race. Two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard overhauled Torstein Traen’s lead to head the general classification by 26 seconds from the Norwegian, with Joao Almeida third and trailing the Dane by 38 seconds. Vine put in an unmatchable performance on the final climb to finish ahead of Spanish Movistar riders Pablo Castrillo and Javier Romo. “Back in red, I’m happy with it, it’s a beautiful jersey,” Vingegaard said. “I’m happy with how the day went,
Australian Alex de Minaur reached the second week of the US Open for the third year in a row with little fanfare on Saturday and said he intended to keep winning until the tournament organizers were forced to give him better billing. Despite being the eighth seed and a quarter-finalist last year at Flushing Meadows, De Minaur’s third-round match against German Daniel Altmaier was scheduled for Court 17 — the smallest of the four stadium venues in the precinct. “It is a little bit of a headscratcher for me. I’m not gonna lie,” he told reporters after progressing 6-7 (9/7), 6-3, 6-4,
RIVALRY: Carlos Alcaraz lost his previous two matches against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, in the Australian Open quarter-finals this year and Paris Olympics final last year Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday dazzled at the US Open to make the semi-finals before Novak Djokovic of Serbia danced his way through to book a New York showdown with the Spaniard that would mark the latest chapter in their generational rivalry. Former champion Alcaraz produced yet another entertaining display at Flushing Meadows to dismantle 20th seed Jiri Lehecka 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 at a sunbathed Arthur Ashe Stadium, securing his place in the last four without dropping a set this year. “Sometimes I play a shot that I should not play in that moment, but it’s the way I love
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