Serbian golf king Novak Djokovic competed with Eastern Olympic gold medalist and German star Alexander Zverev for the final ticket in the US Open semi-finals today (11th). After 3 hours, After a 38-point five-set battle, Djokovic won 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, pushing his Grand Slam winning streak to 27 consecutive victories. "Grand Slam of the Year" and the 21st career title, only one win away.
Djokovic and Zverev have played against each other 9 times, with Djokovic having the upper hand with 6 wins and 3 losses. The most recent confrontation between the two was at the Tokyo Olympics this year, when Zverev reversed course and defeated Djokovic. Strange, Djokovic's dream of "Annual Golden Slam" was shattered.
In the first 8 games of the first set of this match, both sides entered into a rhythm of maintaining each other's serve. In the 9th game, Zverev took the lead in breaking serve and won the first set 6-4. In the second set, Djokovic broke serve in the second game, and then broke serve again in the eighth game, recovering the set 6-2.
Entering the third set, the two of them went back and forth and kept each other's serve. In the 5th game, Djokovic saved two break points and kept serve. The situation became intense. In the crucial 10th game, the two sides played a 53-shot match. After going back and forth, Zverev was forced to take 3 set points and was broken. Djokovic took the lead 6-4.
In the 4th set, Zverev Jr. broke the tie and took a 3-1 lead. Then both sides held serve. In this set, Zverev Jr. won 6-4 and forced the battle to the 5th set. . In the deciding set, Djokovic broke his opponent's serve in the 2nd and 4th games to reach a 4-0 lead. Although Zverev forced 5 break points in the 6th game and successfully cashed in, Djokovic failed in the 7th game. Kovic broke serve again to end the game, winning 6-2 and earning a ticket to the final.
This season, Djokovic has swept the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon championships. He has won 27 consecutive Grand Slams so far. He is now only one win away from the "Grand Slam of the Year". If he can defeat him on the 13th Russian player Medvedev will win an unprecedented 21st Grand Slam title, surpassing Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in one fell swoop.
