Zverev roars back to reach title match
NEW YORK – For two full sets, Alexander Zverev was confused and listless, his body language as poor as his winner-to-error ratio against Pablo Carreño Busta in the U.S. Open semifinals Friday.
Zverev double-faulted and smacked his left high. He put a backhand into the net to cede the opening set and covered his face with both hands. He netted a forehand early in the next set – part of a stretch in which he dropped nine points in a row and 17 of 19 – turned a forlorn face toward his guest box and put his palms up.
When he pushed a backhand long after 1 hour 25 minutes of play and shook his head, Zverev trailed by two sets, a deficit the 23-year-old German never had overcome. Never had been to a Grand Slam final, either. Done and done. Zverev constructed quite a comeback, getting his game in gear to beat a fading Carreño Busta 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 and reach the title match at Flushing Meadows.
“I was like, ‘I can’t believe it. I’m playing in the semifinal, where I’m supposed to be the favorite, and I’m down two sets to love and I have no chance. I’m playing that bad,’ ” Zverev said. “So I knew I had to come up with better tennis, and I knew that I had to be more stable.”
Zverev is the first man to win a U.S. Open semifinal after a 2-0 set deficit since Novak Djokovic did it against Roger Federer in 2011 – and, keeping good company, he’s also the youngest male finalist at any major tournament since Djokovic was 23 in New York in 2010.
Zverev, the No. 5 seed, will play No. 2 Dominic Thiem or No. 3 Daniil Medvedev for the championship Sunday.
It had been 16 years since Grand Slam semifinals was held without at least one of Federer, Djokovic or Rafael Nadal involved.
Nadal chose not to try to defend his title in New York because of the coronavirus pandemic; Federer is out for the rest of 2020 after two knee operations; Djokovic’s tournament ended at 6-5 in the first set of his fourth-round match against Carreño Busta when the No. 1 seed and title favorite unintentionally hit a line judge in the throat with a ball after getting broken.
None of the semifinalists owns a Grand Slam trophy yet.
Zverev has been considered likely to grab one.
Women’s championship
When tennis resumed last month from a five-month hiatus prompted by the coronavirus outbreak, it was impossible to know exactly what to expect.
Turns out Naomi Osaka and Victoria Azarenka have been far and away the two best women in the sport, which is why they will face each other Saturday in the U.S. Open final.
“Honestly,” Osaka said, “like, no one remembers anyone but the winner.” She is 10-0 since the sport returned. Azarenka lost her very first match back but has reeled off 11 consecutive victories since, capped by a 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 elimination of Serena Williams in the semifinals Thursday night.