Sinner survives for a shot at second major
NEW YORK — Top-ranked Jannik Sinner finished off a 7-5, 7-6 (3), 6-2 victory over Jack Draper to reach his first final at the U.S. Open — and second at a Grand Slam tournament his year — after they simultaneously received treatment from trainers on a humid afternoon Friday.
Sinner, a 23-year-old from Italy who was exonerated in a doping case less than a week before the tournament began, needed his left wrist massaged at a changeover after falling during a point he managed to win late in the second set. During the same break in the action, the 25th-seeded Draper, a 22-year-old from Britain, got medical attention after vomiting twice on the court between points.
“It was a very physical match, as we see,” said Sinner, who is a righty but uses both fists for his backhands and kept flexing his left wrist after it got hurt. “I just tried to stay there mentally.”
While both competitors were being looked at, a vacuum was being used to clean up the green ground behind the baseline where Draper had thrown up, finishing the cleaning job he tried to do himself by wiping the court with a towel. It was, to say the least, an unusual scene at Arthur Ashe Stadium, where the temperature was in the high 70s and the humidity was above 60%.
Sinner won the Australian Open in January and will seek his second major championship on Sunday against No. 12 Taylor Fritz or No. 20 Frances Tiafoe, a semifinal that guarantees an American in the final.
“Whoever it is,” Sinner said, “it’s going to be a very tough challenge for me.”
The women’s final on Saturday also will feature an American, with No. 6 Jessica Pegula taking on No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, who beat Emma Navarro 6-3, 7-6 (2).
The longer points went between Sinner and Draper — who are friends and played doubles together at an event in August — the more things went the Italian’s way.
He is as pure a ballstriker as there is in the men’s game at the moment, and while Draper’s left-handed power and good hands — whether following his serves to the net or simply finding other times to hit volleys, he won 22 of the 34 points when he moved forward — made some inroads, Sinner got better and better the longer exchanges went.
Sinner took the point on 50 of 80 that lasted nine or more strokes.
Ostapenko and Kichenok triumph
Lyudmyla Kichenok was supposed to get married this week to Jelena Ostapenko’s coach.
A run to the U.S. Open women’s doubles championship forced a change of plans.
Kichenok and Ostapenko won the title for their first major as a team, beating Kristina Mladenovic and Zhang Shuai 6-4, 6-3.
Kichenok said she and Stas Khmarskiy were engaged more than a year ago. When they arrived for the tournament, they made plans for the wedding to be in New York.
“We were figuring out all the things, where we can do that. And, yeah, he found a spot here and he just booked an appointment for Wednesday,” Kichenok said. “He told me that. I was like, ‘OK, yeah, let’s go.’ ”
Pegula regroups to reach f inal
Pegula could do no right at the outset of her first Grand Slam semifinal. Her opponent on Thursday night, Karolina Muchova, could do no wrong.
“I came out flat, but she was playing unbelievable. She made me look like a beginner,” Pegula said.
“I was about to burst into tears, because it was embarrassing. She was destroying me.”
Pegula managed to shrug off that sluggish start and come back from a set and a break down to defeat Muchova 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 for a berth in the final.
It will be a rematch of the one last month at the Cincinnati Open, which Sabalenka won — the only blemish on Pegula’s postOlympics record.
“Hopefully,” Pegula said, “I can get some revenge out here.”