NEW YORK — Rafael Nadal moved closer to his fourth U.S. Open championship and 19th Grand Slam title overall Friday night by pulling away for a 7-6 (6), 6-4, 6-1 semifinal victory against 24th-seeded Matteo Berrettini of Italy.
Nadal trailed 6-4 in the opening-set tiebreaker before taking the next four points and was on his way.
The second-seeded Nadal never faced a break point in the match. He will face No. 5 Daniil Medvedev for the title Sunday.
It will be Nadal’s 27 Grand Slam final. If he wins, he will pull within one of Roger Federer’s men’s record of 20 Grand Slam singles trophies.
Medvedev reached his first major final by beating Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-3 earlier Friday.
Medvedev has gone from trolling angry crowds at Flushing Meadows to playing for the title.
During his on-court interview, Medvedev referenced his “tournament of controversies,” which included accumulating $19,000 in fines and antagonizing booing fans last week, saying he knew it was “not going to be easy with the public.”
Medvedev’s tennis was a bit scratchy Friday, and he barely avoided dropping the opening set, but he did just enough with his mostly defensive style to get past Dimitrov, who had eliminated Federer in a five-set quarterfinal.
The 6-foot-6 Medvedev hadn’t even been past the fourth round at a Slam until this one. He’s been the tour’s top player over the recent hard-court circuit, though, reaching three other finals. Medvedev has won 20 of his last 22 matches and leads the tour with 50 victories in 2019.
He drew all sorts of attention during Week 1 at the U.S. Open. In his third-round victory, fans got on him for angrily snatching and tossing away a towel from a ballperson, then for holding up his middle finger against the side of his face. When they let him hear it at the end of the match, jeering loudly, he basked in it, asking for more noise and sarcastically thanking them. There was a similar display after his next win, too.
On Friday, the stands seemed to have more people pulling for Dimitrov than Medvedev, but once again, that didn’t matter.
Dimitrov lost seven of his last eight matches before getting to New York. That’s why a player once ranked as high as No. 3 was down to No. 78, making him the lowest semifinalist at the U.S. Open since 1991, when Jimmy Connors – who was in the stands Friday – was out of the top 150.
Dimitrov was a point away from winning the first set, leading 6-5 as Medvedev served. But Medvedev played aggressively there, using a big forehand to get to the net and take that point. The ensuing tiebreaker was filled with errors by both, closing with a forehand into the net by Dimitrov and another that he sailed long.
The second set came down to the last game, when Dimitrov’s inconsistency was again on display. Medvedev struck a down-the-line backhand winner for set point, and Dimitrov followed up with a backhand into the net.
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