Alexander Zverev Advances to US Open Final
Alexander Zverev marched into the US Open final on Friday night, grinding past Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-6(7), 7-6(6) and planting himself one win away from a second Grand Slam title.
The French Open champion arrived in New York looking vulnerable, dragged to five sets in each of his first two rounds. That feels a long time ago now. He has since rattled off four straight matches without losing a set and will contest a third consecutive major final, a run that now has real weight behind it.
This will be his second shot at the trophy at Flushing Meadows, four years after the painful 2020 defeat to Dominic Thiem. Back then, Zverev let a two-set lead slip. This time, he looks like a man intent on leaving nothing to chance.
Zverev seizes control, then digs in
The start was all business. Zverev broke early, imposed himself from the baseline and locked down his serve to take the opening set 6-3, never allowing Khachanov a look at a comeback.
He carried that authority straight into the second set with another early break. The German’s serve, which had powered him through 37 consecutive service games without being broken, looked untouchable.
Then Khachanov finally cracked it.
The unseeded Russian began to free his arm, stepped inside the court, and broke back to halt that streak. The match changed feel in a heartbeat. Rallies lengthened, Zverev’s dominance faded, and suddenly Khachanov was the one dictating, dragging the second set into a tense, seesaw tiebreak.
For 14 minutes, the breaker turned into a test of nerve. Khachanov had chances to tilt the match his way, but when the pressure peaked, his forehand faltered. Zverev stayed tight, played the bigger points with clarity, and stole the set 7-6(7), a brutal swing for a player chasing from behind.
Another breaker, same story
The third set traced a familiar pattern. Zverev held firm on serve, Khachanov refused to go away, and the Russian again found a spark when it mattered most, edging ahead in the tiebreak and threatening to extend the night.
Zverev shut the door.
Down in the breaker, he raised his level, leaned on his first serve and redirected the pace with cold precision. Khachanov blinked again at the key moments, and Zverev surged through to close it 7-6(6), sealing his seventh win in 10 meetings between the pair.
The numbers behind his season at the majors are now striking: a 24-2 record in Grand Slam matches this year, and a shot at adding the US Open to his Roland Garros crown.
New York showdown awaits
On Sunday, Zverev will face the winner of the all-American semi-final between Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton, a matchup built for the New York night and the home crowd’s appetite for noise.
"I can't wait for Sunday. It's going to be incredibly special, Francis and Ben are crowd favourites here in New York," Zverev said. "Tonight is going to be an epic semi-final, I’m looking forward to watching it. Hopefully I can (stop) the American dream coming true."
He has been here before, close enough to touch the trophy. The question now is simple: four years on from that bruising loss to Thiem, is this the moment he finally owns Arthur Ashe Stadium?
