Carlos Alcaraz overpowered Novak Djokovic in straight sets to book his place in the US Open final on Friday and set up a potential blockbuster showdown with defending champion Jannik Sinner.
Spanish second seed Alcaraz produced a ruthlessly efficient display to end Djokovic’s latest bid for a record 25th Grand Slam singles title, winning 6-4, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 in two hours and 23 minutes.
The 22-year-old five-time Grand Slam winner, who has not dropped a set on his path to Sunday’s final, ultimately proved too strong for the increasingly weary 38-year-old Djokovic.
“I played great tennis and I am happy to be at my second final at the US Open,” Alcaraz said. “I tried to play a physical match and I think I did.”
Alcaraz had Djokovic under pressure from the very first game, breaking the Serb to grab a crucial advantage that he never surrendered before taking the opening set.
Djokovic, enjoying full-throated backing from the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd, raised hopes of a fightback in the second set when he broke Alcaraz to move into a 3-0 lead.
But Alcaraz broke back in the fifth game before the set went to a tiebreak which the Spaniard led from the opening point before clinching 7/4 for a commanding two-set lead.
There was only going to be one victor thereafter, Alcaraz pouncing on Djokovic’s serve once more to help set up a 4-1 lead before hanging on to seal a win which avenged the Spaniard’s defeat to Djokovic in last year’s Olympic final.
Alcaraz will face the winner of Italian world number one Sinner’s semi-final against Canada’s 25th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime later Friday.
Sinner, the reigning US Open champion and top seed, will head into that match as the overwhelming favourite to advance and set up the latest chapter of his enthralling rivalry with Alcaraz.
Sinner and Alcaraz have met five times in Grand Slams to date, with Alcaraz beating the Italian in a jaw-dropping five-setter to win the French Open in June before Sinner turned the tables to beat Alcaraz at Wimbledon in July.
The two men also have history in New York, meeting in an epic, 5hr 15min 2022 quarter-final showdown won by eventual champion Alcaraz in a match that finished at close to 3:00am local time.
“Every time we play against each other, I think our level is really high,” Alcaraz said of his rivalry with Sinner ahead of this year’s tournament.
“I don’t see any player playing against each other having the level that we are playing when we face each other.”
Sunday’s final meanwhile will have a rare visit from a sitting US President after confirmation earlier Friday that Donald Trump plans to attend the tennis showpiece.
Trump’s visit, confirmed to AFP by a White House official, is the latest appearance by the US leader at a major sporting event following trips to the Super Bowl in February and the FIFA Club World Cup final in July.
On Saturday, the women’s singles final will be decided when defending champion and world number Aryna Sabalenka faces American eighth seed Amanda Anisimova.
In the women’s doubles final on Friday, Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe won their second US Open women’s doubles title in three years after beating Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova 6-4, 6-4.
