Jack Draper, Jannik Sinner transfer into U.S. Open semis

No. 25 seed Jack Draper swept his way into his first career Grand Slam semifinal by ousting No. 10 Alex de Minaur 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 in the U.S. Open on Wednesday in New York.

His semifinal foe will be top-seeded Jannik Sinner, as the Italian downed fifth-seeded Daniil Medvedev of Russia 6-2, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the last quarterfinal match.

Draper hasn’t lost a set in his five U.S. Open matches. The 22-year-old is the first Brit since Andy Murray in 2012 to reach the U.S. Open semis. Murray won the title that year.

Overall, Draper is the fourth different Brit to advance that far in New York. Murray (2008, 2011-12) did it three times and Greg Rusedski (1997) and Tim Henman (2004) are the others.

“I think I played a solid match,” Draper said on-court at Arthur Ashe Stadium. “I feel the best fitness-wise that I’ve been in a long time, and I think that is where Alex has sort of got me in the past. I also think he was maybe struggling a little bit today with something, which might have helped me a little bit.

“But credit to Alex. He’s an amazing fighter and an unbelievable player. We’re going to have many more battles to come.”

Draper has edges of 40-21 in winners and 11-7 in aces while dispatching de Minaur. Both players committed 30 unforced errors.

But the match remained one-sided throughout as Draper continues his stunning run.

“It’s amazing. To be out here, my first match on the biggest court in the world, honestly, it’s a dream come true for me,” Draper said.

Sinner, 23, is through to his second career Grand Slam final, having won the Australian Open title match against Medvedev to start this year. He never previously got past the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open.

While Sinner and Medvedev were relatively even in terms of winners hit on Wednesday, Medvedev committed 57 unforced errors to Sinner’s 38.

“It was very tough, we know each other quite well,” Sinner said. “We played in Australia this year and then London. We knew it was going to be very physical. It was strange the first two sets because whoever made the first break then started to roll.”

Sinner, who was born in 2001, became the first player who was born in 1990 or later to make the semifinals of all four Grand Slam events. The only other active players who have achieved the feat are Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Marin Cilic.

Sinner became the subject of a sport-wide controversy when news emerged this summer that he twice tested positive for steroids this year yet avoided a suspension. He was merely fined and stripped of ranking points after he was ruled to have been blameless in the incident. Sinner maintains the steroids entered his system from a masseur using a spray that contained the banned substance.

Draper won his lone previous match against Sinner, posting a 7-6 (6), 7-6 (2) at a London grass-court event in 2021.

–Field Level Media