Austrian in familiar Thiem
Dominic Thiem will try to make it fourth time lucky after winning a physical battle against Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals of the US Open in New York yesterday.
Thiem will take on Alexander Zverev in his fourth slam final having lost twice to Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros and Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open in January.
He nearly won that one and he will surely believe this is finally his time after a 6-2, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (5) victory over Russian Medvedev, who served for both the second and third sets but could not shake off Thiem.
Austrian Thiem said: “After the first set, I think it was great tennis from both of us, and I could have been two sets to one down. Tie-breaks are really mentally a tough thing. I don’t like them at all really. I’m really, really happy to be through.”
After coming so close to beating Nadal in his maiden final in New York last year, Medvedev knew what a huge opportunity this was, but Thiem’s greater experience perhaps showed in better decision-making at the big moments.
Medvedev played the role of pantomime villain at Flushing Meadows 12 months ago and, had there been a crowd inside Arthur Ashe, they would surely have been jeering as the Russian lost his cool with umpire Damien Dumusois in the sixth game of the opening set.
Dumusois did not allow the third seed to challenge a serve that was clearly long and then gave Medvedev a warning for marching around to the other side of the net to show the umpire where the ball had landed.
Medvedev will look back and wonder what might have happened had he taken any of numerous chances to level the match.
Having been two points away at 5-3 and 0-30 on the Thiem serve, he was broken serving for it and then missed five break points in the next game. He had his chances in the tiebreak, too, but too often a poor choice of shot came back to bite him, not least the supremely ill-advised drop shot he played at 7-7.
Medvedev looked fresher in a third set that featured a passionate Thiem rant after he slipped at a key moment. It seemed to be Medvedev’s for the taking, but once again, he could not seize the opportunity, with Thiem showing great resilience to break back for 5-4.
The second seed was in touching distance at 5-1 in the tie-break, and although Medvedev made a fight of it, Thiem made it across the finish line.
Zverev, meanwhile, produced the best comeback of his career to defeat Pablo Carreno Busta and reach his first grand slam final.
The German was largely abject for the first two sets but claimed his first win from that position, turning things around impressively to win 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.
“I was looking at the scoreboard when I was down two sets to love,” he said. “I was like, ‘I can’t believe it, I’m playing in a semifinal where I’m supposed to be the favourite and I’m down two sets to love and I’ve got no chance, I’m playing so bad’.
“I knew that I had to come up with better tennis and I knew I had to be more stable.”
Since Djokovic’s shock disqualification last weekend for hitting a line umpire with a stray ball, the focus has been on which of the next generation could finally seize their moment.
At 23, Zverev is the youngest men’s slam finalist for a decade.