September 11, (THEWILL) – The US Open semi-final between Daniil Medvedev and Felix Auger-Aliassime did not seem to be the last but one match of a tennis major due to the relative ease with which Medvedev attained his 6-4 7-5 6-2 triumph but, it was equal parts because of the imperial tennis that Medvedev produced on the day and Auger-Aliassime’s perceived failure to rise to the occasion.
Only at one point did a chink appear in Medvedev’s armour, when he had to recover from a break down and save two set points in the second set. The Russian did exactly that to right the ship of his progress and power on to victory without dropping a set against the younger player.
The 25-year-old has appeared and lost in two previous Grand Slam finals and will have both his loss at the US Open final to Rafa Nadal in 2019 and going home without the trophy this year in Australia at the back of his mind when he enters the court against his nemesis in Australia, Novak Djokovic, who beat him in the final.
On the other hand, Auger-Aliassime was playing his first semi-final at a Grand Slam. The 21-year-old, who reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals earlier this year, has been hailed among the sport’s brightest young stars on whose shoulders the future of the men’s game can be carried forward.
His performance against the defensive prowess of Medvedev showed he still had some learning to do before that will happen as unforced errors littered his game and Medvedev profited. Three Auger-Aliassime double faults in the first set allowed Medvedev to break his serve in the seventh to take a lead he would not relinquish to the end.
Auger-Aliassime showed good sense of technical awareness by employing a change in tactics in the second set to upset what Medvedev had learnt from his botched first set. The Canadian started to serve and volley to good effect. It was remarkably beneficial. His rash change in tactics immediately pressured the Medvedev serve and Auger-Aliassime broke on a double fault to go 4-2 ahead.
The upper hand he got from that change only petered out when he fluffed his lines on his own serve, when he was serving for the set. Another double fault at 30-0 saw him failing to put away either of his subsequent set point opportunities and opened the door for the Russian to exploit.
Medvedev swiftly accepted that invitation in what proved a crucial moment in the match. The second seed duly claimed back-to-back breaks to take the set and extinguished what seemed the clearest chance his inexperienced opponent had of at least earning a set win.
With that dip in ascendancy behind him, Medvedev turned on the style to breeze through a third set. There were no more tactical changes that Auger-Aliassime could draw from his locker to flip on the Russian, who easily broke his serve and wrapped up the set 6-2 for another final ticket at the US Open.
Medvedev acknowledged that turnaround in his post-match interview: “It was a strange match because I didn’t feel like I played my best. Everybody thought it was going to be one-set all but I managed to save the set points and the match turned around completely.
“At 5-4 I knew it was a very important point of the match where I had to do everything at my best, because that is the moment where I could break him mentally, and that’s what happened.”
He recalled losing to Nadal at the same event saying: “Last time was a crazy match. If it’s going to be the same match on Sunday, I just hope I can win this time.”
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
