New York: World number two Danil Medvedev dropped his first set this year the US Open but finally defeated Dutchman Bottic van de Zandschulp 6-3, 6-0, 4-6, 7-5 to reach his third straight semi-final on the grassland flushing on the day Tuesday.
Van de Zandschulp surpassed Russia in a rally 20 shots and then converted at a break in the fifth match before taking the third set at the Arthur Ashe Stadium, the first sign of Medvedev’s weakness has appeared since arriving in New York.
Dutch qualifications have enjoyed an extraordinary run, lowering the 11th seed Diego Schwartzman to reach his first quarter-final grand slam, where he fired 20 forehand winners and was the first player here to take Medvedev through a two-hour sign.
But 2019 runner-up, which has 13 aces in the match, came back roaring in the fourth set, winning all except the first two points and never faced a break point.
Van De Zandschulch offset the match point in the 10th match, holding his applause with wild applause from a rowdy New York crowd, but Medvedev responded with quickly and rested, assisted by a double mistake from the Dutch.
Medvedev, who lost in the semi-final a year ago for the winner finally Dominic Thiem, is one of the main candidates aimed at thwarting Novak Djokovic’s offer for the grand slam calendar.
“(I) just want to do a little better than the last twice and get this final step, which is the most difficult, actually,” he said.