WHAT HAPPENED: Though Daniil Medvedev served for both sets two and three, Dominic Thiem, the second seed, clawed his way back in each and won an up-and-down semifinal battle with last year’s US Open runner-up to reach his fourth career Grand Slam final at the 2020 US Open.
The Austrian Thiem, 27, won in straight sets, 6-2, 7-6, 7-6, on Friday night, though the match was far from routine. He will play No. 4 Alexander Zverev of Germany in Sunday’s final. Each is looking for his first major win.
In the first set Medvedev, 23, became suddenly unnerved after suffering a break of his serve to go down 2-4. Medvedev, serving at 30-40, believed his first serve was long; Thiem returned the ball but the Russian was not allowed to challenge the call on his own serve, though even the Austrian argued that he should have been able to. The incorrect “out” call stood, Medvedev lost his serve, and Thiem went on to ride out the set against a visibly perturbed Medvedev. It was the first set Medvedev had lost in the 2020 US Open.
Thiem handed the momentum right back to Medvedev at the beginning of set number two, committing a rash of unforced errors to lose his serve right off the bat. Medvedev raced to a 5-3 lead and was two points from notching the match at one-set-all, but he couldn’t capitalize. The 6-foot-6 Russian served for the set at 5-4 and though he hadn’t faced a breakpoint all set, Medvedev was broken, as Thiem upped the pace of his shots.
In a tense, tactical tiebreak—a real fight—Medvedev made several poor shot choices: a misjudged drop shot and a poor serve-and-volley to get in trouble. Another badly executed drop shot at 6-6 by Medvedev allowed Thiem to grab a two-sets-to-none advantage.
At the tail end of the second set, Thiem appeared to injure his foot. Medvedev began the third set by testing the Austrian’s fitness, offering up the kind of cat-and-mouse, slice-and-dice play the Russian is renowned for.
Medvedev again served for the third set, at 5-3, but again the Austrian dug in, breaking serve on a spectacular 18-shot rally to get back on serve in the set.
In the third-set tiebreak, Thiem blasted a 98-mph backhand down-the-line to get to match point. He won on a Medvedev error into the net.
“After the first set, it could easily have been two-sets-to-one down,” Thiem said. “I played my best tennis at the ends of the sets, and both tiebreaks were amazing. Tiebreaks are really mentally a tough thing.”
“I don’t like them at all, to be honest,” he added.
But he has to like the way those tiebreaks went tonight.
WHAT IT MEANS: In the 2020 US Open title match, which will see the winner walk away with a major for the first time, Thiem meets No. 4 seed Zverev of Germany, who came back from two sets down to win his semi over Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain. The Austrian is 7-2 versus Zverev in head-to-head matchups. They have played three times before majors, and Thiem has won all three.
In the semifinal, after losing his leads in sets two and three, Medvedev was going to need a first: to come back from two sets down and to win a five-setter, neither of which the Russian had ever done. Thiem, who saved a set point in both tiebreak sets, finished the match before Medvedev would get the chance.
MATCH POINT: Thiem now has an opportunity to finally win his first Slam without having any of the Big Three in his way. The Austrian has lost two major finals to Rafael Nadal at the French Open and one to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open. Going into the final of the 2020 US Open, Thiem will finally be the favorite against Zverev, who will be playing his first major final.
