The no World No. 1 Jannik Sinner held his own and qualified for his first US Open final on Friday, where he will experience the fervor of the immense Arthur Ashe court at its peak, facing an American.
To become the first Italian to reach the final at Flushing Meadows at the age of 23, Sinner dominated Britain’s Jack Draper (25)e) 7-5, 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 at the end of a match which lasted more than three hours.
“It was a very physical match, as you could see. I tried to hang on psychologically because he is very difficult to beat,” Sinner commented on his “good friend”, before saying he was “happy to be in the final”.
To lift the trophy, his second Grand Slam after the Australian Open in January, he will have to beat the sober Taylor Fritz (12) on Sunday.e) or the extravagant Frances Tiafoe (20e). These will compete from 7 p.m.
“Whoever the opponent is, I’m happy to be in the final and I expect a very difficult match for me. But I’m looking forward to playing it,” he assured.
“My season has been great so far and the final days are always special. Every time you play on a Sunday in a tournament, it means you’re doing a really good job. So I’m going to keep doing my best and we’ll see what I can do on Sunday,” he added.
Prolific
He is to date the player who has won the most matches on hard surfaces this season (34 wins for two losses and four titles), ahead of Alexander Zverev (27 wins). He is also the one who has won the most matches this year in Grand Slam with 22 wins, ahead of Carlos Alcaraz (19) who won two Majors in 2024 (Roland-Garros and Wimbledon).
After a complicated start to the tournament due to the revelation to the public and to the other players, a few days earlier, of two positive doping tests for an anabolic steroid undergone in March and for which he was cleared, the Italian player has only increased in power.
And while he didn’t play at his best against Draper, he was clearly superior in key moments, such as the deciding game in the second set, and took advantage of a physical collapse by his opponent.
In the first set, each player held his serve but as soon as Draper (22 years old) was a little less effective on first serves, Sinner (23 years old) took advantage to break and lead 4-3.
The Italian missed the next game, allowing his opponent to break immediately.
Sinner made the decisive break to lead 6-5 and this time he held his service game to pocket the first set.
Fall
Despite many hard-fought games, with each player saving break points, Sinner and Draper came to the deciding game in the second set where the Italian was clearly superior.
An incident, however, marred the set, when at 4-4, Sinner won an extremely spectacular point during which he fell before getting up and finishing with a fantastic forehand winner. But in his fall, he hurt his left wrist.
At the change of ends, he called the physio and resumed the game.
Draper, who had vomited on the court just before, also called a doctor and returned to play.
But little by little, the Briton completely lost his physical footing and ended up on his knees.
For his part, Sinner no longer seemed bothered by his left wrist.
Despite this defeat, Draper will be satisfied with his performance in New York: last year, he played the US Open as 123e worldwide, this year, it was 25e during the fortnight and will enter the top 20 for the first time on Monday.