Austrian second seed Dominic Thiem stayed strong to fend off a tough challenge from Russia’s Daniil Medvedev and reach the final of the US Open at Flushing Meadows.
Thiem reached his second Grand Slam final of 2020 by defeating Medvedev 6-2, 7-6(7), 7-6(5) on Friday night.
He may have registered a straight-sets win for the record books, but the matchup was far from straightforward, as Thiem explained after his victory
“For sure (it was) the toughest straight-sets win I ever had because could have been easily completely different,” he explained.
“He just doesn’t miss when I play with his rhythm. So I tried to destroy that a little bit with lot of slices, with also high balls with a lot of spin. That was what was the plan.
“I played my best tennis then towards the end of the sets. Both tiebreaks were amazing. Tiebreaks are mentally a tough thing. I don’t like them at all to be honest. I’m really happy to be through. It was a great semi-final.”
While Thiem was in good spirits, Medvedev was less happy after a matchup that saw him lose his composure after crossing to the other side of the net to complain to the umpire.
The move earned him a code violation and prompted a sarcastic response from the Russian star.
“I think I killed someone, right?” he said to a tournament supervisor in the stands.
He then turned to the umpire and stated, dryly, “My sincere apologies for crossing the net.”
