The No. 2 seed booked a spot in his second Open final, beating the 12th-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime, 6-4, 7-5, 6-2. Medvedev will play either Novak Djokovic or Alexander Zverev.<\/b>
\nWhen Daniil Medvedev made his first U.S. Open final two years ago, he did it to a soundtrack of frequent boos, leaning into a villain role he acquired during a contentious third-round match and goading the crowd before ultimately winning it over with his valorous losing effort in the final against Rafael Nadal. This year, on his second trip to the final, Medvedev raced quietly through the draw, winning with little drama or excitement compared with the teenagers Leylah Fernandez and Emma Raducanu, who have electrified the women\u2019s draw, and with Novak Djokovic\u2019s quest for the Grand Slam on the other half of the men\u2019s draw. The second-seeded Medvedev advanced on Friday afternoon, beating the 12th-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime,6-4,7-5,6-2. Medvedev,25, awaits the winner of the second semifinal between the top-seeded Djokovic and the fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev. Medvedev has dropped only one set in the tournament, against the qualifier Botic Van de Zandschulp in the quarterfinals. He has spent only 11 hours and 51 minutes on court en route to the final, less time than Fernandez needed to reach her final while playing in the best-of-three format vs. the best-of-five for the men. Medvedev played his typical style against Auger-Aliassime, hitting big serves while neutralizing his opponent\u2019s power by standing in the outer realms of the court to return. Auger-Aliassime,21, found success midway through the second set, coming forward with increasing frequency to take advantage of Medvedev\u2019s distal court positioning. After earning a break point with a 20-shot rally he finished at net, Auger-Aliassime broke on a Medvedev double fault to go up by 4-2 in the second. \u201cIn the second set, I think everybody felt like it\u2019s going to be one-set-all,\u201d Medvedev said in his on-court interview. \u201cYou never know where the match is going to go.\u201d After extending his lead to 5-2 with four unreturnable serves, Auger-Aliassime began to falter. He earned two set points at 5-3, and came forward on the second one but slipped and badly missed a forehand volley. \u201cHe didn\u2019t give me much opening,\u201d Auger-Aliassime, who was playing in his first major semifinal, said in his news conference. \u201cAgainst a player like that, you don\u2019t really have room for mistakes, room for losing your focus, which I did at the end of the second. He took advantage of it and I didn\u2019t get another chance after that.\u201d Medvedev broke two points later on a backhand miss by Auger-Aliassime. \u201cHe missed one volley, I made one good point, and the match turned around completely,\u201d Medvedev said. \u201cI\u2019m really happy. I don\u2019t think I played my best today, but I\u2019m really happy to be in the final on Sunday.\u201d When Auger-Aliassime served again at 5-5, he handed Medvedev a break at love with three unforced errors and a double fault. Medvedev closed out the set a game later with an ace. \u201cThat\u2019s the moment where I could break him, mentally,\u201d Medvedev said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what happened.\u201d The third set was a rout, with Medvedev breaking in the third and fifth games, and Auger-Aliassime no longer charging the net as he once had. Medvedev finished the match with his own venture to the front of the court, knocking away an overhead that Auger-Aliassime could barely reach. Medvedev finished with 37 winners to Auger-Aliassime\u2019s 17. Medvedev particularly dominated the shortest exchanges in the match, winning 63 percent of points that lasted four or fewer shots. This is the first U.S. Open in which none of the men\u2019s or women\u2019s singles semifinalists has been an American. None advanced past even the fourth round. There have been, however, American successes in other draws. Robin Montgomery, a 16-year-old from Washington, D.C., reached the girls\u2019 singles final with a 2-6,6-3,6-4 win over Solana Sierra of Argentina. The Americans Coco Gauff,17, and Caty McNally,19, reached the women\u2019s doubles final when one of their opponents, Luisa Stefani, retired during a first set tiebreaker with a knee injury. Rajeev Ram of Indiana won the men\u2019s doubles title with his British partner, Joe Salisbury, beating Bruno Soares and Jamie Murray,3-6,6-2,6-2. Though Ram,37, is older than Gauff and McNally combined, he said he saw no reason to set a finish line on his career. \u201cI feel like I don\u2019t ever really put a timeline on it,\u201d Ram said. \u201cI enjoy it. I feel like I\u2019m playing pretty well. Winning stuff like this helps me think that way.\u201d<\/p>\n