NEW YORK (AP) — Top-ranked Jannik Sinner finished off a 7-5, 7-6 (3), 6-2 victory over Jack Draper to reach his first final at the U.S. Open — and second at a Grand Slam tournament his year — after they simultaneously received treatment from trainers on a humid afternoon Friday.
Sinner, a 23-year-old from Italy who was exonerated in a doping case less than a week before the tournament began, needed his left wrist massaged at a changeover after falling during a point he managed to win late in the second set. During the same break in the action, the 25th-seeded Draper, a 22-year-old from Britain, got medical attention after vomiting twice on the court between points.
While both competitors were being looked at, a vacuum was being used to clean up the green ground behind the baseline where Draper had thrown up. It was, to say the least, an unusual scene at Arthur Ashe Stadium, where the temperature was in the high 70s and the humidity was above 60%.
Sinner won the Australian Open in January and will seek his second major championship on Sunday against No. 12 Taylor Fritz or No. 20 Frances Tiafoe.
Good pals Fritz and Tiafoe were scheduled to play each other Friday night in the other men’s semifinal, the first in New York between two Americans in 19 years. One would become the first U.S. man in a Slam title match since Andy Roddick lost to Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2009 — and if either were to defeat Sinner, it would give the United States its first major trophy for a man since Roddick triumphed in New York in 2003.
The women's final on Saturday also will feature an American, with No. 6 Jessica Pegula taking on No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.
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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
Howard Fendrich, The Associated Press