The Latest: No Slam as Medvedev beats Djokovic in US Open
Sep 11, 2021, 9:44 PM | Updated: Sep 12, 2021, 6:44 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on the U.S. Open tennis tournament (all times local):
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6:35 p.m.
Novak Djokovic fell one step short in his Grand Slam bid.
Daniil Medvedev beat him 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in the U.S. Open final to win his first major title.
Djokovic was trying to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win all four Grand Slam singles titles in the same year. But the No. 2 seed from Russia made clear it wasn’t going to happen Sunday when he built a 4-0 lead in the third set after winning the first two.
Djokovic will go into next year still tied with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal with 20 major titles, most in men’s history.
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5:50 p.m.
Novak Djokovic will need to climb from two sets down to win the U.S. Open and a calendar-year Grand Slam.
Second-seeded Daniil Medvedev has a 6-4, 6-4 lead over the No. 1 seed.
Djokovic owns six career comebacks after losing the first two sets, including in this year’s French Open final, when he came back to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The last two men’s finals in Flushing Meadows have gone five sets after one player took the first two. Medvedev fell to Rafael Nadal in 2019, before Dominic Thiem became the first man since 1949 to win the U.S. Open after dropping the first two sets when he beat Alexander Zverev last year.
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5:30 p.m.
Novak Djokovic’s frustration is showing in the U.S. Open final, smashing his racket early in the second set.
Unable to cash in on a couple chances to break Daniil Medvedev’s serve in the fourth game, Djokovic slammed his racket to the court three times after returning a serve out of bounds.
Djokovic was given a warning by chair umpire Damien Dumusois. The crowd booed Djokovic as he walked to his bench to get a new racket, a broken piece of the old one still near the baseline.
Medvedev held his serve, then broke in the next game for a 3-2 lead. He won the first set 6-4.
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4:55 p.m.
Novak Djokovic will have to come from behind for the fifth straight time in this U.S. Open.
Daniil Medvedev won the first set of the final 6-4, making Djokovic’s quest for the calendar-year Grand Slam a little tougher.
The top-ranked Serbian is used to this predicament, though. He dropped the first set against Kei Nishikori, Jenson Brooksby, Matteo Berrettini and Alexander Zverev en route to his ninth U.S. Open final.
If Djokovic rallies again, he will become the first man to win all four majors in one year since Rod Laver in 1969. Laver is in attendance at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
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4:35 p.m.
Dylan Alcott won the men’s wheelchair quad singles title to complete a Golden Slam.
The No. 1 seed from Australia beat Niels Vink of the Netherlands 7-5, 6-2.
Alcott became the second Golden Slam winner of the day on the wheelchair tour. Diede de Groot of the Netherlands also won a Paralympic gold medal along with victories in all four major tournaments.
Shingo Kunieda of Japan won the title in the wheelchair men’s singles division with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Alfie Hewett of Britain.
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4:20 p.m.
Novak Djokovic is underway with the last match he needs to win for a calendar-year Grand Slam.
Djokovic is facing Daniil Medvedev in the fourth U.S. Open men’s final over the last 25 years between the top two seeds. Djokovic was the No. 1 seed in all of them.
A victory for the Serbian would make him the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win all four Grand Slam singles titles in the same year. It would also be his 21st major title, passing Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for most among men.
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3:15 p.m.
Sam Stosur and Zhang Shuai won their second Grand Slam women’s doubles title together and denied Coco Gauff and Caty McNally their first with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory.
The No. 14 seeds added the U.S. Open title to the Australian Open they won in 2019.
Gauff and McNally, seeded 11th, were hoping to join 18-year-old singles champion Emma Raducanu as teenage titlists at the U.S. Open.
But the veterans were a little too good, with Stosur adding this doubles title to the one she won in Flushing Meadows in 2005, and the singles title she earned by beating Serena Williams in 2011.
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2:35 p.m.
Diede de Groot has completed the first Golden Slam in wheelchair tennis.
De Groot beat Yui Jamiji of Japan 6-3, 6-2 to win the U.S. Open wheelchair women’s singles title.
The No. 1 seed from the Netherlands added that title to her victories this year at the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon, along with the gold medal she won earlier this month in the Paralympics.
She is the first tennis player to win all four major titles plus a gold medal in the same year since Steffi Graf in 1988.
Dylan Alcott of Australia was trying to duplicate the feat on the men’s side later Sunday.
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12:40 p.m.
Novak Djokovic is playing in the U.S. Open final for the ninth time and has never had more at stake.
The top-ranked player will complete a calendar-year Grand Slam and collect a men’s-record 21st major title with a victory over No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev.
Djokovic beat Medvedev in the Australian Open final, then won the French Open and Wimbledon. He is trying to become the first man to win all four Grand Slams in the same year since Rod Laver in 1969.
If he does, Djokovic will break a tie with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for most major titles among men.
Djokovic is 3-5 in the U.S. Open final. His nine appearances are the most in the professional era, dating to 1968.
Medvedev is trying to win his first Grand Slam title, having lost to Nadal in the 2019 U.S. Open final in his first attempt.
Also Sunday, American teenagers Coco Gauff and Caty McNally will try to win their first Grand Slam doubles title against the team of Sam Stosur and Zhang Shuai.
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