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Despite looking weary, Van de Zandschulp battled back to take a two-set lead. In the fourth set, the Dutchman, 25, averted a match point, but Medvedev won 6-3 6-0 4-6 7-5. In the quarterfinals, Medvedev will compete against Felix Auger-Aliassime.
After 18-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz quit with a 6-3 3-1 deficit, the world number 15 from Canada advanced. After defeating Greek third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the third round, Alcaraz became the youngest player in the Open era to reach the US Open men’s final eight.
However, after displaying no signs of injury in the first set, Alcaraz began to struggle in the second, eventually announcing that he could not continue.
He then admitted that he had felt the thigh issue before entering the courtroom.”It’s quite difficult to put an end to such a fantastic competition,” Alcaraz added.
“I didn’t have a choice.””First and foremost, I must look after my physical well-being.
I couldn’t play any longer since I wasn’t feeling well, so I had to stop.””I didn’t see it coming,
” Auger-Aliassime said.”I believed we were putting up a great performance.”
In New York, Medvedev ‘wants to do better than the last several times.’ Medvedev is widely regarded as the most likely candidate to derail Novak Djokovic’s pursuit for a calendar Grand Slam. He fell to Djokovic in a lackluster Australian Open final earlier this year, but he reached the final in New York two years ago, where he was upset in five tense sets by Rafael Nadal.
“It was my first Grand Slam victory in 2019. New York holds a special place in my heart “In an on-court interview, the 25-year-old stated.
“So it’s the semi-finals again, and I’m hoping to do a little better than the last few times and complete this final test, which is the most difficult.”
He had not dropped a set on his way to the final four, and he appeared to be on track to do it again as he established a two-set lead in under an hour. Van de Zandschulp was straining to move fluidly and required treatment on his thigh at the end of the second set. He had spent 22 hours on the court in his journey from qualification to the quarter-finals.
He took advantage of Medvedev’s lapse of concentration, creating three break points in the world number two’s first serve game before breaking for a 3-2 lead. To serve out the set, he held off Medvedev, but the Russian stepped up his game, zipping through his service games to put the pressure back on the world number 117.
With a fantastic serve and volley, Van de Zandschulp saved the first match point, but he couldn’t stop Medvedev’s progress. In New York, he has had a fantastic run, winning two five-set matches and two four-setters and defeating eighth seed Casper Ruud and 11th seed Diego Schwartzman.
“Van de Zandschulp has had an incredible season.
I think I played in the Grand Slam qualifiers twice and never advanced to the main draw “Added Medvedev.
“He’ll be in the top 20 or top 30 at the very least if he keeps playing like this.
Let’s hope that he keeps playing like this.”
