Six of the last seven points
Karen Khachanov led 5-2 in the third-set tiebreak. Alexander Zverev then ripped off six of the next seven points. Match over. Suspense gone.
The German, the top seed, won 6-3, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (6) on Friday night in New York. The semi-final lasted a little under three hours. Zverev will play the US Open final on Sunday.
The numbers tell you how tight this was. Khachanov won 71% of his service points, Zverev 70%. Just three points separated the two men over the entire match, 107 to 104. There were only five break points in the whole contest. The difference came down to aces, with the German hitting 15 to Khachanov’s 6.
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The ghost of 2020
Zverev is back in the Flushing Meadows final six years after his first. In 2020, he led Dominic Thiem by two sets to love. The Austrian came back to win the next three.
This time the backdrop is very different. Zverev claimed his first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros in June, after 40 major tournaments spread across 12 seasons. Before that, he had lost four finals, one at each of the four majors. He has also suffered seven semi-final exits, including the 2022 defeat in Paris when he tore three ligaments in his right ankle against Rafael Nadal.
“I love playing these big finals and I can’t wait for Sunday,” the German said on court after the win.
Shelton waits, and the record says plenty
Ben Shelton, the No 8 seed, will be the opponent. The American beat Frances Tiafoe in the other semi-final, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5.
The head-to-head is one-way traffic. Zverev leads 5-0 in their meetings. The form line is just as clean: he needed five sets to get through his first two rounds in New York, then tweaked his game on the practice court before the third round. Since then, he has not dropped a set.
This will be his third straight Grand Slam final. After the Paris triumph, he lost in four sets to Jannik Sinner at Wimbledon in July.
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