US Open—Flushing Meadows, New York
Sinner Advances to First US Open Final; Defeats Draper
World No. 1 Jannik Sinner advanced to his second Major final on Friday in Flushing Meadows, New York, defeating inform Brit Jack Draper 7-5, 7-6(3), 6-2.
Needing three hours and three minutes to advance, Sinner slammed 11 aces, won 77 percent of his first serve points and broke the serve of the No. 25 seed on three occasions.
Sinner, who is the reigning Australian Open champion, recently won the title at the Cincinnati Open as well.
Draper, who didn’t lose a set entering the semifinals, defeated No. 10 seed Alex de Minaur along the way to reach the final four. The 22-year-old will move up to No. 20 in the world after his US Open campaign.
Tying his head-to-head with Draper at 1-1, Sinner will next await the winner of tonight’s blockbuster American showdown between No. 12 seed Taylor Fritz and No. 20 seed Frances Tiafoe.
Fritz owns a commanding 6-1 head-to-head lead over Tiafoe in Tour meetings, but the No. 20 seed is playing some of the best tennis of his career during the fortnight.
Defeating No. 9 seed Grigor Dimitrov, No. 13 seed Ben Shelton and No. 28 seed Alexi Popyrin along the way, Tiafoe is in prime position to cause an upset on Ashe Stadium.
Fritz, who will also be looking to reach his first-ever Major final, defeated No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev, No. 8 seed Casper Ruud and former Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini en-route to the semifinals.
Tiafoe is currently ranked No. 16 in the world and Fritz is positioned as No. 11 on ATP Tour rankings.
Women’s Final Preview
Saturday’s highly anticipated women’s final will feature world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka facing home-country hero Jessica Pegula.
The pair has faced each other on nine previous occasions with Sabalenka owning a 7-2 head-to-head lead.
Known as the hardest hitting player on Tour, Sabalenka will look to impose her game early against Pegula.
For Pegula to succeed, she will have to take care of her service games and force the Belarusian to feel some pressure as they potentially inch closer to a tiebreaker.
If Sabalenka is left to tee off on her groundstrokes from the onset of the match, then it could be quick day in the office for Pegula.
Pegula has defeated top seed Iga Swiatek and Karolina Muchova en-route to the semifinals. Sabalenka has ousted No. 7 Qinwen Zheng, No. 13 seed Emma Navarro, No. 29 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova and No. 33 seed Elise Mertens.
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