Jannik Sinner beats Daniil Medvedev and reaches the semifinals of the US Open

NEW YORK – Top seed Jannik Sinner reached the U.S. Open semifinals for the first time by defeating 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev 6-2, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 on Wednesday night.

Sinner, who emerged as title favorite after the Week 1 exits of Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, is the only man in the field who still owns a Grand Slam title, winning his first at the Australian Open in January by beating Medvedev in the final in five sets after losing the first two.

This encounter was unusually turbulent as they took turns dominating one set after another. At first, Sinner was dominant. Then Medvedev took over that role. Then Sinner regained the upper hand in the third set. In the fourth set, at 3-3, Sinner followed on, fending off two break points and then breaking Medvedev to take a 5-3 lead.

Sinner – a 23-year-old Italian who was cleared of a doping case less than a week before the start of the US Open after testing positive twice for traces of an anabolic steroid in March – will face Britain’s Jack Draper (seeded 25) on Friday for a place in the title match. Draper won the only match between the two at the Queen’s Club in 2021.

He is the third Italian to reach the semifinals of the US Open since the beginning of the Open Era in 1968, following Corrado Barazzutti (1977) and Matteo Berrettini (2019). He is also the fourth youngest man in the Open Era to reach the semifinals of all four majors, only Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Jim Courier have done better.

The day’s other semifinal will be between No. 12 Taylor Fritz and No. 20 Frances Tiafoe, the first all-American men’s matchup at a major in 19 years.

This report used information from ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press.