Medvedev Stuns Alcaraz to Meet Djokovic in U.S. Open Finals

Just when the U.S. Open was on the verge of its dream weekend, Daniil Medvedev did perhaps the most Medvedev-like thing and messed it all up.

With a stunning win over Carlos Alcaraz, the reigning champion and 20-year-old wunderkind of the sport, the 27-year-old Medvedev — the game’s happy troll, playful wiseguy and unorthodox baseliner — took a wrench to the popular plans to watch the next chapter of Alcaraz’s mounting generational rivalry with Novak Djokovic.

Instead of a rematch of an epic Alcaraz-Djokovic final in the tuneup to this tournament three weeks ago, which was a rematch of the Wimbledon final in July, which was a rematch of their semifinal showdown at the French Open in June, Sunday will bring a rematch of 2021 U.S. Open final between Medvedev and Djokovic.

On that day, Medvedev, the Russian with the funky strokes, goofy one-liners and dead fish victory celebration, left Djokovic’s quest to become the first man in 50 years to win all four Grad Slam titles in a calendar year in tatters, drubbing the seemingly unbeatable Serbian champion in three sets.

“Novak is always better than the previous time he played,” Medvedev said. “Novak is going to be his best version Sunday, and I have to try to be my best version to beat him.”

Friday night, it was the seemingly unstoppable Alcaraz, the sport’s showstopper of the moment, who endured the head-on impact of a party crash. Medvedev chased after every ball and snapped off one of the most lethal serves in the game throughout the night, matching Alcaraz shot for shot and pushing him to the edge of losing his cool in the second set. Alcaraz nearly threw his racket to the ground but held back at the last moment. Medvedev then weathered Alcaraz’s third set comeback attempt to prevail in four sets over the tournament’s top seed and current world No. 1, 7-6 (3), 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.

“I’m going to change my mind,” Alcaraz said after the tense battle. “I’m not mature enough to handle these kinds of matches.”

Alcaraz had his moments, especially early in the third set, when he began dancing across the court and taking control of points by flying into the net to deliver his stinging volleys. He found that extra zip on his ground strokes and had Medvedev hanging his head for the first time all night as Alcaraz halved the lead.

After a bathroom break and a change of clothes, though, Medvedev rediscovered his early form, evolving once more into the human backboard capable of finding the tightest angle to sneak a ball past his most gifted and acrobatic opponent.

That was the trick he pulled off in the marathon sixth game of the fourth set, which lasted nearly 15 minutes. He flung a backhand return onto the Spaniard’s shoelaces as he surged toward the net on his second chance to break Alcaraz’s serve. He looked up at the crowd and waved his fingers in the air, as he had been doing all night, his how-about-some-love-for-me gesture.

Two games later, he had locked up the…