Daniil Medvedev turned in one of the performances of his life to defeat reigning US Open men's champion Carlos Alcaraz and set up a tantalising final with Novak Djokovic.
The third seed harnessed every inch of his hard-court prowess and triumphed 7-6[3] 6-1 3-6 6-3 in three hours and 20 minutes to reach his fifth major final.
A slightly off-colour Alcaraz only managed to take one of the nine break points he faced against Medvedev, and a 77% win rate at the net was not enough to overcome the versatile Russian.
Medvedev came up with 10 double faults alongside nine aces, while Alcaraz scored zero in both categories and only won 48% of points behind his second serve against an inspired third seed, who avenged his defeats to the 20-year-old at Wimbledon and Indian Wells.
"I said I needed to play 11 out of 10, I played 12 out of 10," Medvedev said on the court. "[At the] US Open, and I don't really know the reason, I tend to play aggressive, fast. I serve well.
"Probably the speed of the court helps me. Like, Indian Wells, I mean, that I did the final was amazing, because I basically can't hit the ball there.
"There were some points I lost, but after the point I was, 'Wow, I have caught some balls that were really tough'. I was, 'Okay, that's good. That means that next point I can do the same. Maybe either he's going to miss or I could make a better shot.' I was in the zone.
"I have hopefully long years of career ahead. And to know I'm capable of doing it on the big stage, every time you do it one more time, brings more confidence. You know you can do it again. You want to do it again. You want to feel this. And at the same time, what is the most important is to kind of use it but forget about it and go for the next one."
Six of Medvedev's 10 double faults came in the first set, but the Russian's stellar defensive work came to the fore as he saved two break points before coming good on the tie-breaker.
Medvedev's shot-making continued to dazzle the Arthur Ashe crowd as he ran away with the second, breaking Alcaraz twice more, but the defending champion's service game improved massively when the third set got underway.
The rejuvenated Spaniard won four of the first five games and kept Medvedev at bay to stay alive, but the third seed had the answers to Alcaraz's serve-and-volley move and established a 4-2 lead in the fourth after nearly losing his serve in the third game.
Double faults reared their ugly heads for Medvedev again while he was serving for a place in the final, but Alcaraz missed another three chances to break, and Medvedev converted his fourth match point on a forehand smash.
By reaching a fifth Grand Slam final, Medvedev has set a new record for Russian male players in the Open Era and reunites with Djokovic two years on from defeating the Serbian at the 2021 US Open for his only major title to date. body check tags ::
