Alexander Zverev Advances to US Open Final After Tough Battle Against Khachanov

Alexander Zverev walked off Arthur Ashe Stadium with the scoreline of a routine win. Nothing about it felt routine.

The men’s No. 1 seed beat Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (6) on Friday to reach his second US Open final and a third straight Grand Slam title match. Straight sets on paper, a grind in reality.

Zverev starts fast, Khachanov digs in

The opening set looked like a mismatch. Zverev settled immediately, serving cleanly, striking early, and letting Khachanov unravel. The Russian’s game leaked errors — almost double Zverev’s tally in the first set — and the German walked through it 6-3 without needing to hit top gear.

That could have been the start of a procession. It wasn’t.

Khachanov, unseeded at 30 and with nothing to lose, steadied himself. He stopped over-pressing, found heavier length on his groundstrokes and began to match Zverev blow for blow. The rallies stretched, the tension rose, and the second set refused to budge.

Zverev, though, has built his season on handling these exact moments. The tiebreak arrived, the margins shrank, and the No. 1 seed held his nerve just a fraction better, edging it 7-6 (7) to move within a set of the final.

Sun, glare and a restless crowd

The third set turned into a tug-of-war. Service holds stacked up, neither man willing to blink. At 6-5, with Zverev a game away from closing it out and avoiding another breaker, the match took a strange turn.

Annoyed by glare cutting across the court, Zverev marched to the chair to complain to the umpire. The reaction from the stands was instant and hostile. Boos rained down inside Arthur Ashe as the German argued his case.

ESPN’s broadcast later explained the source: sunlight reflecting off the glass doors of the luxury suites when they were opened. The science didn’t soothe the mood. Zverev lost focus, then lost the game. Another tiebreak.

The frustration seemed to follow him into it. He slipped quickly into a 4-1 hole, the crowd sensing a Khachanov comeback and roaring the underdog on. The semifinal suddenly hung in the balance.

Champion’s response

That’s where Zverev showed why he’s been the man to beat this summer.

He tightened his patterns, went after his first serve and dragged himself back point by point. From 1-4 down, he reeled Khachanov in, leveling at 6-6 under immense pressure with a place in Sunday’s final on the line.

Khachanov had his chances. Two set points came and went, Zverev saving both and flipping the script. Once he reached match point, he didn’t hesitate. One last clean strike, one last error drawn, and the German finally broke Khachanov’s resistance to seal the third-set breaker 7-6 (6).

A straight-sets win, but one that demanded resilience as much as shotmaking.

A third straight major final – and unfinished business in New York

The victory sends Zverev back into the US Open final, where he will try to erase the memory of his 2020 defeat in his first championship match at Flushing Meadows. This time, he arrives as a Grand Slam champion, having lifted his first major trophy at Roland Garros in June, and as a man who has now reached three consecutive major finals.

The context on Sunday will be very different. In 2020, the stadium felt hollow. This year, it will be loud, partisan and, if Zverev’s prediction is right, almost certainly against him.

Speaking to ESPN on court, he acknowledged exactly that, with No. 8 seed Ben Shelton and No. 11 seed Frances Tiafoe set to battle in an all-American second semifinal.

“I think it’s going to be incredibly special,” Zverev said. “Especially these two guys, Frances and Ben, crowd favorites here in New York. Everybody loves them. … Hopefully I can not make the American dream.”

He knows what awaits: a packed house, a wall of noise, and a city desperate for a home champion.

A historic all-American clash

Shelton vs. Tiafoe is more than just a semifinal. It is a landmark occasion for American tennis and for the US Open itself.

Both men are chasing a first Grand Slam final. Whoever wins will become the first American to reach the men’s US Open final since Taylor Fritz did it in 2024, and will step into Sunday’s showpiece with a chance to become the first US men’s champion since Andy Roddick in 2003.

The significance runs deeper. For the first time in history, two Black American men will face each other in a US Open men’s singles semifinal. By night’s end, one of them will stand where no Black American man has stood in this tournament since Arthur Ashe last reached the final in 1972.

The winner will walk out again on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET, this time opposite Alexander Zverev, with history, noise and a Grand Slam title all colliding on one court.