Alexander Zverev sweeps way into U.S. Open finals

It took Alexander Zverev 40 major tournaments spread over 12 seasons, a crushing loss and a devastating injury before he won his first, long-awaited Grand Slam title at the French Open in June.

The second one could come in much shorter order for Zverev, who defeated Karen Khachanov of Russia 6-3, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (6) in just under three hours on Friday to advance to the final of the U.S. Open in New York.

The top-seeded German will make his second appearance in a U.S. Open final on Sunday against the winner of the all-American match between Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe, scheduled for later Friday.

Finally unburdened by the worry of whether he would win a Grand Slam event, Zverev now needs to block out the memories of the 2020 U.S. Open final, when he was leading Dominic Thiem two sets to none, only to see the Austrian win the next three.

"Sometimes just things go your way," Zverev said in his on-court interview after the match. "And I feel like I've had a lot of struggle at the major level. I was so close so many times and maybe this year God has said, ‘You know, this is going to be your year and just enjoy the time when you're on the court.' I'm enjoying it. I love playing these big finals and I can't wait for Sunday."

Khachanov and Zverev are contemporaries who have been playing against each other since juniors, and the familiarity showed, They were more like sparring partners in the first set, with Zverev making the only big punch when he broke Khachanov's serve to go up 5-3, then serve out for the win.

The normally raucous crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium was quiet in the opener, lulled by the lack of real drama or momentum swings. And even when Zverev stormed into the second set and broke Khachanov's serve in the opening game, the fans didn't really come alive until the Russian broke Zverev to get back on serve at 2-2.

A 32-shot rally in the following game brought one of the biggest cheers from the crowd on the day.

The players stayed on serve through the tiebreaker, when Zverev converted his third set point to go up 2-0.

The third set had no break points and no drama until the last couple of games and the tiebreaker, when an agitated Zverev twice complained to the chair umpire about flashes of light that occurred intermittently during play.

Khachanov went up 5-2 in the tiebreaker, drawing the fans to his side. But Zverev took six of the final seven points to win the semifinal.

The players were more steady than spectacular throughout. Khachanov won 71% of his service points, Zverev 70%. There were just five break-point chances in the match, with Zverev converting two and Khachanov one. And just three points separated them; Zverev won 107 total points to Khachanov's 104 in a match that could have gone either way.

Zverev did hold a 15-6 edge in aces.

It took Zverev five sets each to win in the first two rounds in New York, then he turned around his game in the practice before the third round. He has not dropped a set since.

"Moving forward, I was playing much better tennis, and I obviously have improved a little bit otherwise I would not be in the U.S. Open final," Zverev said.

Zverev will be playing in his third consecutive Grand Slam final. After winning in Paris, he lost a four-set final to world No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy at Wimbledon in July.

In all, Zverev has seven finishes as a semifinalist in a Grand Slam, including at the French Open in 2022, when he tore all three of the ligaments in his right ankle in his match against Rafael Nadal.

He has been the runner-up in a major four times -- once in each Grand Slam event.

Zverev is a combined 14-1 against Tiafoe (9-1) and Shelton (5-0). Zverev's loss to Tiafoe came in 2017 in the second round of the Cincinnati Open.