NEW YORK: Carlos Alcaraz defeated Frances Tiafoe in a gladiatorial US Open semi-final on Friday, setting up a showdown for the title and world number one ranking against Casper Ruud.

The 19-year-old Spaniard triumphed 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 to become the youngest men’s Grand Slam finalist since compatriot Rafael Nadal captured the first of his 22 Slams at the 2005 French Open.

Norway’s seventh-ranked Ruud earlier defeated Russia’s Karen Khachanov 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 to reach his second Grand Slam final this year.

Tiafoe went down fighting, however, saving three match points and retrieving breaks in both of the last two sets.

We are in the semi-final of a Grand Slam, we have to give everything we have inside, we have to fight until the last ball,” said Alcaraz, the youngest US Open finalist since Pete Sampras in 1990.

It doesn’t matter if you’re fighting for five hours or six hours. It doesn’t matter, you have to give everything on court.”

For Alcaraz, who unleashed 59 winners, it was his third successive five-setter as he closes in on a maiden Slam and becoming the youngest ever world number one.

It’s my first time in a final of a Grand Slam. I can see the number one in the world, but at the same time it’s so far away,” he added.

I’m going to give everything that I have. I will have to handle the nerves of being in the final of a Grand Slam but obviously I’m really happy.”

If he can beat Ruud, Alcaraz would become the youngest man to be crowned world number one, breaking the mark set by Australian Lleyton Hewitt, who was 20 when he became the world’s top ranked player in 2001.

Tiafoe hailed his conqueror.

I gave everything I had, too good from Carlos tonight,” said Tiafoe. “Honestly I came here wanting to win the US Open, I feel like I let you guys down. This one really hurts.”

The win ends Big Foe’s run at the tournament, where his unlikely success and uniquely American life story captivated fans and brought out luminaries including former first lady Michelle Obama to Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday night.

No American man has hoisted a Grand Slam trophy since Andy Roddick won the US Open in 2003, and Tiafoe — whose parents fled civil war in Sierra Leone and who was exposed to the sport when his father worked as a caretaker at a tennis center in Maryland — was the first Black American man to reach the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows since the late Hall of Famer Ashe did so in 1972.

Ruud is the first Norwegian man to reach the final at Flushing Meadows. He finished runner-up to Nadal at the French Open in June.

After Roland Garros, I was extremely happy but at the same time humble enough to think that could be my only final in a Grand Slam in my career,” said Ruud.

They don’t come easy. So here I am a couple of months later — it feels beyond words to describe.

This match is probably the biggest match for both of our careers. You want to take care of the opportunities you have and I was able to do that today.”

The 23-year-old Norwegian set the tone for his dominance early in the semi-final when he came out on top in a 55-shot rally to convert a third set point in the opening tiebreak which his Russian rival described as“crazy”.

Ruud is known for his poise on clay but was equally effective on New York’s hard courts, winning 14 straight points to build a 5-1 lead in a near-flawless second set.

His form deteriorated in the third, where he racked up 11 unforced errors and handed Khachanov the break on set point.

However, Ruud bounced back to convert breaks on chances in the third and fifth game of the fourth set and clinched the contest with a forehand winner, one of 20 across the match.

Khachanov, who rose to a terrific level to upset Australian Nick Kyrgios in a five-set quarter-final thriller, said he was pleased to notch a few great wins in New York but was utterly exhausted from the gruelling slate of competitors.

As the tournament [finishes], I feel really, really kind of destroyed in a way, really tired. All the energy went down. We’re almost three weeks in New York, preparing the week before,” he told reporters.

I was thinking and dreaming obviously to lift the trophy.”

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2022