Daniil Medvedev beats the heat and Rublev to reach US Open semis

Medvedev, the third seed and 2021 U.S. Open champion, appeared to be having breathing problems in the near 95-degree Fahrenheit (35 Celsius) heat, twice calling for a doctor on changeovers.

But it didn’t seem to show in his play. Medvedev frequently traded long rallies with Rublev – 34 strokes being the longest – and scrambled for every shot. He ran nearly the length of the court to hit a winner off a drop shot in the final set to earn his first match point. Rublev saved that one and three more in an 18-point final game before finally succumbing on the fifth, with an exhausted forehand into the net.

“The only good thing I see in these conditions is both suffer,” a sweat-drenched Medvedev said in his on-court interview in a partially closed Arthur Ashe Stadium. “Honestly at the end of the first set I kind of couldn’t see the ball anymore. I kind of played with sensations. You just try to go for it, try to run, try to catch the ball.”

For Rublev, the No. 8 seed and such a close friend to Medvedev that he’s the godfather to his first-born daughter, it marked more Grand Slam frustration: It was his ninth trip to the quarterfinals of a major without advancing to the semis, and the third time he was denied by Medvedev.

Medvedev, who also appeared to have breathing problems in his previous four-set win against Alex de Minaur, at one point in the first set was checked by a doctor with a stethoscope and administered an inhaler. While toweling off sweat midway through the third set, he grumbled to a courtside camera, “One player gonna die and they’re going to see.” Medvedev, also the runner-up at Flushing Meadows in 2019 and a semifinalist in 2020, will await the winner of the match later Wednesday between top-seeded defending champion Carlos Alcaraz and No. 12, Alexander Zverev, who won a fourth-round matchup Monday against Jannik Sinner that lasted 4 hours, 41 minutes. The other men’s semifinals matchup Friday is already set, with No. 2-seeded Novak Djokovic taking on hard-hitting American Ben Shelton.

Earlier, Aryna Sabalenka moved into the semifinals, looking every bit like a player who soon will be ranked No. 1 in a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Zheng Qinwen.

Sabalenka, who will take over the top spot in next week’s WTA rankings because of the fourth-round loss of current No. 1 and defending champion Iga Swiatek, still has not dropped a set at Flushing Meadows – and has ceded a total of 21 games through five matches.

The No. 2-seeded Belarusian has made at least the semifinals at the past five Grand Slam tournaments, winning her first major title at the Australian Open in January.

“I just gave myself another opportunity to do better in the semis,” Sabalenka said in her post-match interview. “I still have things to do in New York. … I’ll think about being the world No. 1 after the U.S. Open.”

The other women’s semifinal Thursday will be No. 6 Coco Gauff against No. 10 Karolina Muchova in a matchup of the past two runners-up at the French Open.

Zheng, a 20-year-old from China who reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal by taking out 2022 U.S. Open runner-up Ons Jabeur, fought off a match point with an ace. But she got just 41% of her first serves in play and won just three points against Sabalenka’s first serve.

Next up for Sabalenka is the winner of the night match on Ashe between ninth-seeded Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova and No. 17 American Madison Keys, the 2017 U.S. Open runner-up.