Alexander Zverev made a return to the semi-finals of the US Open half a decade after his last appearance as the top seed attempts to win his second Grand Slam title of the season.
The winner of the Roland Garros trophy three months ago, earned his spot in the final four in New York 6-2, 7-5, 6-1 over Botic Van De Zandschulp.
The German top seed was a semi-finalist here in 2021 after losing a tight 2020 final to Dominic Thiem.
Zverev will face Karen Khachanov, who defeated Alexander Blockx 6-2, 7-5, 3-2 as the Belgian retired injured with a rib problem which had required several medical timeouts during play in their quarter-final.
“I was still feeling my rib a lot (from his previous match),” Blockx said. “I was still feeling my leg. Then in the second set, I blocked a nerve in my back, which was even worse to move.
“I was just waiting for him to break me, you never know what’s going to happen. I didn’t want to risk to make anything worse than it was already.”
Zverev increased his lead in match wins on the Tour in 2026 as he claimed his 51st by reaching the 13th Grand Slam semi-final of his career, still well behind the 55 of Novak Djokovic.
“The more often you get to that stage, the more normal it becomes, which is
something that you should never take for granted,” the winner said after his two-and-a-quarter victory.
“I don’t take it for granted at all. I know it can change in a heartbeat in tennis. Confidence is something that is incredibly important but also can go away quite quickly,”
He added: “I found that out after Wimbledon (final against Jannik Sinner) where I didn’t play well throughout the two tournaments (Montreal, Cincinnati) on the hard courts – but found it again here.
“Of course I’m happy with how things are going, but looking forward, I still hope to play two good matches here.”
Zverev broke six of nine times while never losing his serve against his Dutch opponent.
