NEW YORK : Alexander Zverev reached the U.S. Open final for the second time after beating Karen Khachanov 6-3 7-6(7) 7-6(6) on Friday to move within one victory of a second Grand Slam title.
The French Open champion was pushed to five sets in each of his opening two rounds but has since won four consecutive matches without dropping a set. The 29-year-old has now reached his third straight Grand Slam final.
Zverev also returned to the U.S. Open title decider for the first time since 2020, when he lost to Austria’s Dominic Thiem.
“After the second round at 3am, me and my team were in the dressing room actually laughing at how bad I was playing. That sense of humour helped me,” Zverev said on court. “I have improved a little bit, otherwise I wouldn’t be in the U.S. Open final.”
The German took the opening set after an early break and carried that momentum into the second, but Khachanov responded by breaking back to end Zverev’s run of 37 consecutive service games without being broken.
The unseeded Russian then threatened to take control in a tense tiebreak, but Zverev held his nerve to win a 14-minute breaker, helped by Khachanov’s errors at key moments.
Khachanov again took a brief lead in the third-set tiebreak, but Zverev fought back to seal his seventh win in 10 meetings with the Russian.
Zverev, who now has a 24-2 record in Grand Slam matches this season, will face either Frances Tiafoe or Ben Shelton in Sunday’s final.
“I can’t wait for Sunday. It’s going to be incredibly special. Frances and Ben are crowd favourites here in New York,” Zverev said.
“Hopefully I can stop the American dream coming true.”
