Twelve years after Andy Murray, Jack Draper will represent the United Kingdom in the last four of the US Open, his first major semi-final. The Briton will face world number one, Italian Jannik Sinner, who eliminated Russian Daniil Medvedev, winner of the tournament in 2021, in the quarter-finals.
Jack Draper, ranked 25th in the world, continued his winning ways, winning his first Grand Slam quarter-final against Australia’s Alex De Minaur (10th) 6-3, 7-5, 6-2. At 22, he is the fourth Briton to reach the semi-finals of the men’s draw in New York in the Open era (which began in 1968) after Greg Rusedski (1997), Tim Henman (2004) and Andy Murray (2008, 2011, 2012).
“It’s the first time I’ve played on the biggest court in the world. [le stade Arthur-Ashe] and it’s a dream come true”commented the Briton, who did not seem to have his head in the clouds at all as he imposed his game on De Minaur. Last year, at Flushing Meadows, he reached the round of 16, which was his best result to date in a Grand Slam. In this tournament, before this quarter-final, he had not lost a single set and had only conceded his serve once. De Minaur took his serve twice, but without managing to win a set. “I was strong and, physically, it’s been a long time since I felt this strong.”Draper stressed.
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His next opponent on Friday, world number one Jannik Sinner of Italy, 23, defeated fifth-seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev 6-2, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals of the US Open tennis tournament for the first time.
A shock expected since the early eliminations of Carlos Alcaraz (in the second round) and Novak Djokovic (in the third round), the meeting between Sinner and Medvedev did not reach the heights hoped for. The Italian easily broke away in the first set before the Russian did the same in the second. The trend was then reversed for good, with Sinner proving too solid in all areas of the game, justifying his status as world number one. “It was tough, we know each other well. The first three sets were strange, with fast breaks”Sinner said, explaining that he had mainly targeted the net drives.
This is the third time this season that the two players have faced each other in a major tournament: Sinner won the Australian Open final, and Medvedev, their quarter-final at Wimbledon. Sinner becomes the third Italian to reach the semi-finals of the men’s tournament, after Corrado Barazzutti in 1977 (on clay) and Matteo Berrettini in 2019. Sinner had started the tournament in a context of controversy, following the revelation of his whitewashing by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), after he had undergone two positive tests in March. Several players denounced the opacity of the process and the feeling of a two-speed anti-doping justice depending on their status.
World number one eliminated
In the women’s competition, Polish world number one Iga Swiatek was defeated by American Jessica Pegula (6th seed), 6-2, 6-4 in the quarter-finals. Pegula, 30, will play her first Grand Slam semi-final on Thursday against Czech Karolina Muchova (52nd seed), after six defeats in the quarter-finals. “Finally I can say that I am a semi-finalist! I knew I could do it if I applied my game without getting frustrated”commented the American.
Swiatek, 23, winner at Flushing Meadows in 2022 and four-time Roland-Garros champion, was weighed down by her unforced errors (41 in eighteen games played, compared to 22 for Pegula). Apparently nervous, the Polish player offered the first game of the match on her serve, on a double fault, after several errors in the previous points, clumsiness that multiplied throughout the match.
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Pegula’s qualification adds even more depth to the excellent US Open for the Americans, who have four semi-finalists: Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe who face each other on Friday, and Emma Navarro, a novice at this level, facing the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday.
Pegula’s next opponent, Karolina Muchova, eliminated Brazilian Beatriz Haddad (21st), 6-1, 6-4. “I am very happy to be in the last four again”said the 28-year-old player, with a big smile, she who had to end her season after her defeat in the semi-finals of the US Open in 2023 against the future winner, Coco Gauff. Victim of a wrist injury, she had surgery in February and did not return to competition until June.
Haddad, totally non-existent at the start of the game, almost gave her the first set. The Brazilian, who had physical problems, being examined on the court at the end of the game, held her serve a little better in the second set, but the Czech, despite stomach pains, managed to win. “It was a strange match. I had some physical problems, which I prefer not to comment on. I managed to get through them by going back and forth to the toilet. Sorry if it was disturbing, but I had no choice.”commented Karolina Muchova. The Czech must hope that these ailments do not last too long, because she will continue with her semi-final on Thursday, without a day off.
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