Rafael Nadal will face Kevin Anderson in the finals of the U.S. Open after making it past Juan Martin del Potro in the semifinal on Friday. Nadal, the top seed, bested del Potro, who made it to the semifinal after beating Roger Federer in the prior round, 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-2.
US Open results 2017: Rafael Nadal to face Kevin Anderson in final after beating Juan Martin del Potro
Nadal needed four sets, but he bested del Potro and is into the final, where he’ll face Kevin Anderson.
Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
The first set was close, but del Potro scored an early break while Nadal couldn’t handle receiving that well. Del Potro took that opening set, but Nadal took over the match from there. He went 6-0 in the second set and only dropped a couple of games in the third set.
In the fourth, del Potro held, Nadal held, and then Nadal had an absolutely unreal game, allowing just one point on del Potro’s serve. He got the break and the lead, and didn’t look back. He finished the match with about double the winners and half the unforced errors of del Potro, which is generally all you need to secure a win.
Anderson had a four-set battle with Pablo Carreno Busta, the 12th seed, in the first men’s semifinal on Friday. Anderson dominated the majority of the match, scoring 22 aces to Busta’s one, and hitting 58 winners against Busta’s 21.
He’ll need to clean up his play to be ready for the final though, as he had a staggering 43 unforced errors, and converted on just four of 14 break points. He’ll draw a lot of doubters given the fact that the bottom half of the bracket wasn’t nearly as strong as the top.
But he’s still playing in the final of a Grand Slam, so anything can happen.
The women’s final will take place on Saturday, featuring 15th seed Madison Keys and unseeded Sloane Stephens, both Americans. The semifinals also featured two other Americans in Venus Williams and CoCo Vandeweghe, the first time since 1985 that four American women made it to a Grand Slam semifinal.
Stephens bested Williams, while Keys made short work of Vandeweghe. The men’s final will close out the tournament on Sunday.
You can find updated results and the schedule for the men’s singles bracket here and the women’s singles bracket here.
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