By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday September 5, 2024

 

Jannik Sinner remains the man to beat in New York after battling past Daniil Medvedv and into his first US Open semifinal.

Photo Source: TTV

New York—What chaos? That’s what Italy’s Jannik Sinner must be saying about the 2024 US Open.

Rumors that Sinner might be too distracted to play well in New York due to the revelation that he had failed two doping tests in March and had only recently been declared (for the most part: he was docked prize money and ranking points) innocent might be premature.



Perhaps the Italian will not be the latest star to fall (like Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, who fell in week one) in a series of dominoes that ends up with a first-time Slam winner. Maybe the 2024 US Open is part two of Sinner’s coming out party as a world-class, Hall of Fame worthy star.

Sinner, in spite of it all, is managing to dominate the field much in the same fashion that he dominated the last hard court Grand Slam in Australia.

Sinner improved to 32-2 on the hard courts in 2024, and 21-2 at the majors with his 6-2, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 win over fifth-seeded Daniil Medvedev to set a semifinal with first-time semifinalist Jack Draper on Friday.

“Obviously in the beginning was a bit of a tough situation,” Sinner said about his pre-tournament controversy, “But, you know, day by day it went better. So yeah, I'm happy about that. Let's see now in the semis what I can do.”

Sinner played a strong match against Medvedev and rebounded nicely when the Russian took the middle set.

The Italian finished with 31 winners against 38 unforced errors, but hit 20 winners against just 11 unforced errors in sets three and four.

Medvedev dropped to 33-7 lifetime at the US Open, and failed in his bid to reach a fifth US Open semifinal. He dropped to 9-2 in Grand Slam quarterfinals, thanks to a patch performance that saw him commit 57 unforced errors, including 24 on his typically reliable backhand side.



He was broken five times and won just 42 percent of second serve points.

“Was definitely not happy with the way I played in general, because there were some very good moments and some not so good,” the World No.5 said.

“So in general it's a tough feeling when you come out, and at the end it's rare that I get tight, but in the end I got super tight. Because when I was missing I didn't feel why I was missing, so I couldn't correct it, and then I got super tight at the end.”

Sinner took full advantage and closed out the contest in two hours and 39 minutes. He has dropped just two sets and spent just 11 hours and 17 minutes on court to get to the semifinals, stats that put him in good stead as he mounts his charge towards a second major title, and first in New York.

“Happy how I handled the situation,” he said. “It's very tough against him. Yeah, I think it was a great match from both sides. I think the fourth set was then more tough, you know, like because the scoreboard was a bit different.

“But no, all things considered, I'm very, very happy, and let's see what I can do now in the semis.”