Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Ruud to dream final US Open: direct duel for number 1 position | Sport

Carlos Alcaraz and Frances Tiafoe turned it into a great fight in the packed Arthur Ashe Stadium. The first set was equal and after 64 minutes it was an equally exciting tie-break for the American. After that, the young Spaniard took the initiative in the game. In 45 and 33 minutes respectively, he won the second and third set: 6-3 and 6-1.

Despite the heavy loss in the third round, Tiafoe, supported by the frenzied home crowd, equalized again in a blood-curdling fourth set. After 73 minutes and another tie-break, the game was fully balanced again.

In the fifth set, the energy slowly drained from Tiafoe’s game and Alcaraz also showed himself to be the better tennis player. After a little more than 40 minutes he came with a beautiful lob on three match points. The American managed to get rid of the first, then, after 4 hours and 18 minutes of tennis, he no longer had an answer to the Spaniard’s mighty blows.

Casper Ruud needed exactly an hour for the first set in his semifinal against the Russian Karen Khachanov, in the second set the Norwegian was ready with the Russian after 33 minutes. Khachanov then won the third set 7-5, but in the fourth set Ruud took the victory convincingly. The semi-final lasted exactly three hours.

,,In the first set, nerves played tricks on both of us. It was one of the biggest matches in our careers for both of us,” said Ruud, who lost to Botic van de Zandschulp in the second round in New York last year, but defeated Tim van Rijthoven in that round this year. ,,I’m very happy, because after Roland Garros I still thought that this could have been my only grand slam final.”

Ruud already reached the final of Roland Garros earlier this year, in which he lost without a chance against his idol Rafael Nadal in three sets (6-3, 6-3, 6-0). The Norwegian has also trained at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Manacor since 2018, where as a talented teenager he came in as number 143 in the world.

Ruud and his opponent Alcaraz can become the new number 1 in the world ranking on Sunday. Rafael Nadal had to hope after his elimination in the quarterfinals by Tiafoe that the two would not make it to the final in New York. In that case, he would become number 1 in the global ranking for the ninth time in his career. Now the number 1 position in the world ranking is for the winner of the US Open. If Tiafoe had reached the final, Ruud would immediately have made the jump from 7 to 1 in the world ranking.

Alcaraz can write history in New York. If the Spaniard manages to replace Daniil Medvedev, he will become the youngest number one in the world since entering the ranking. The record is now held by Australian Lleyton Hewitt. Novak Djokovic, not of the party in New York, is currently the number six in the world. Ruud of Alcaraz becomes the 28th different leader of the ATP ranking.

Medvedev became the first leader since February 2004 not to be Roger Federer (310 weeks in total), Rafael Nadal (209 weeks), Novak Djokovic (373 weeks) or Andy Murray (41 weeks). Medvedev lost last week in the eighth finals in four sets to Nick Kyrgios.

Medvedev won in New York last year and lost to Nadal in the final of the Australian Open early this year. He then reached only the fourth round at Roland Garros and he was not allowed to participate in Wimbledon as a Russian. The US Open will be the tenth different champion since 2008 and the fifth different winner in a row on Sunday.