Zverev Advances to US Open Final with Tough Win Over Khachanov
Alexander Zverev walked off Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday with a straight-sets win and a face that told a different story. This was no cruise. This was a grind.
The men’s No. 1 seed beat Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (6) to reach his second US Open final and a third consecutive grand slam title match, adding Flushing Meadows to a run that already includes his breakthrough major at Roland Garros in June.
Zverev starts fast, Khachanov bites back
For a set, it looked routine.
Zverev settled first, striking cleanly, serving with authority, and drawing error after error from Khachanov. The Russian’s game leaked mistakes—almost twice as many unforced errors as Zverev in the opener—and the 6-3 scoreline reflected the gap in precision more than any gulf in power.
Then the match changed.
Khachanov, unseeded and 30, refused to let the evening slide away. He tightened his groundstrokes, held his nerve on serve, and dragged Zverev into longer, more physical rallies. The German still carried the cleaner patterns, but the second set turned into a test of nerve rather than shot-making.
They traded holds, Khachanov matching Zverev blow for blow until the tiebreak. There, the No. 1 seed edged ahead, 7-6 (7), but it was no longer a procession. Khachanov had found a foothold, and the match had a pulse.
Sun, glare and a restless crowd
The third set followed the same script: serve, hold, reset. Neither man blinked.
At 6-5, with Zverev trying to close the door and avoid another tiebreak, the tension spilled into something stranger. Zverev walked toward the chair to complain about glare from the sun, reflecting off the glass doors of the luxury suites when they were opened—a detail confirmed on the ESPN broadcast.
The timing infuriated the crowd. Boos rolled down from the upper decks of Arthur Ashe as Zverev voiced his frustration. He promptly lost the game. Another tiebreak. More drama.
The glare did not disappear, and neither did the problem it caused. Zverev fell behind 4-1 in the breaker, his rhythm broken, Khachanov suddenly staring at a lifeline. The stadium sensed a shift. For the first time all afternoon, the upset felt possible.
Then Zverev dug in.
Point by point, he reeled Khachanov back. He wiped out two set points, leveled at 6-6, and with a place in Sunday’s final on the line, he played the bigger points with the surer hand. Match point came, and this time he did not hesitate. One last clean strike, and Khachanov’s resistance finally cracked.
Straight sets on the scoreboard. Anything but straightforward on court.
Chasing redemption in New York
For Zverev, this is not just another final. It is a return to the scene of one of the most painful nights of his career, the US Open final loss in 2020 that slipped from his grasp when it seemed almost won.
Now he comes back as a major champion, as the top seed, and as a man who has quietly put together a run of three straight grand slam finals. The numbers say authority; the tennis, at times on Friday, said vulnerability. That blend can be dangerous for any opponent.
He also knows what awaits him on Sunday besides an opponent: noise.
Speaking to ESPN after the match, Zverev acknowledged the likely dynamic in the stands, with No. 8 seed Ben Shelton and No. 11 seed Frances Tiafoe—both crowd favorites in New York—vying to meet him.
“I think it’s going to be incredibly special,” he 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 will not have the crowd. He will have the stage.
A historic all-American nightcap
That stage gets a very different flavor in the second semifinal.
On a somber day in the United States, Arthur Ashe Stadium hosts an all-American duel between Shelton and Tiafoe, a match that reaches far beyond the usual semifinal stakes.
Both are chasing a first career grand slam final. Whoever comes through will become the first American man to reach the US Open final since Taylor Fritz did in 2024. One more win after that, and they would be the first US men’s champion here since Andy Roddick in 2003.
The significance runs even deeper.
Shelton vs. Tiafoe marks the first time two Black American men have faced each other in a US Open men’s singles semifinal. Whoever wins will be the first Black American man to reach the final in New York since Arthur Ashe’s last appearance there in 1972—a powerful echo in the stadium that bears his name.
The winner of that historic showdown gets Zverev on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET.
One man hunting redemption. One man chasing a first major. And an entire sport watching to see whether New York crowns a new American hero or watches the No. 1 seed shut the door on the dream.
