Alexander Zverev reaches US Open final after recovering two-set deficit against Pablo Carreno Busta

Celebration: Alexander Zverev has sealed his spot in the 2020 US Open final
USA Today Sports
George Flood12 September 2020

Alexander Zverev is through to his maiden Grand Slam final after coming from behind to defeat Pablo Carreno Busta in a bizarre but engrossing US Open last-four contest.

The world no7 will face either Dominic Thiem or Daniil Medvedev in Sunday's showpiece at Flushing Meadows after recovering from a hugely disappointing start - and desperate second-set showing - to triumph 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in a five-setter inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.

It marks the first time in his career that Zverev has fought back from a two-set deficit to win a match.

The fifth seed is the first German male singles player to reach the US Open final since Michael Stich in 1994.

There initially looked to be very little chance of Zverev - who also made the last four at the Australian Open in January - winning on his second successive appearance in a Grand Slam semi-final lineup, with Carreno Busta looking supremely confident early on and punishing some very sloppy play from the 23-year-old to secure a double break and swift 5-1 lead.

Zverev's footwork was sorely lacking and he could not find any real semblance of range or rhythm as his opponent successfully closed out the first set at the second time of asking.

In Pictures | US Open 2020

1/141

He continued to look notably out of sorts and below par in a one-sided second set, with Carreno Busta quickly capitalising on a myriad of unforced errors - including but not limited to a number of rogue forehands and timely double faults - to clinch another double break.

The Spaniard, by contrast, was largely error-free in an impressive second set and was striking the ball with crispness and confidence in his second US Open semi-final in four years, racing into a 2-0 lead.

Zverev looked to have a mountain to climb at two sets down and his frustration was evident as Carreno Busta immediately recovered a break at 1-3 in the fourth game of the third set.

However, Zverev then broke again and quickly found some assuredness on serve after those notably early struggles, producing some extremely comfortable holds to love to reduce the deficit and get on the board.

Suddenly Carreno Busta began to look nervy and the duo exchanged breaks to keep a roller coaster fourth set level at two-games apiece.

Zverev achieved a crucial second to lead 4-3 and followed that up with another emphatic hold to love before then serving strongly again to tie the match and force a winner-takes-all fifth set.

All of Carreno Busta's early momentum appeared irretrievably lost when he took a medical timeout and was then broken in the opening game of that decider, which was unusually devoid of the sort of tension you might expect with Zverev looking increasingly unlikely to let his advantage slip.

Carreno Busta saved the first match point trailing 3-5, but could not rally to deny Zverev, who will now hope to become the first maiden male Grand Slam singles winner since Marin Cilic triumphed at Flushing Meadows in 2014.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in