The 7-5, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 victory that carried Sinner, the world No 1, into a first US Open final was not a matter of strategy and deliberation, so much as the survival of the fittest. Draper, the British 25th seed, who had reached his maiden grand slam semi-final without dropping a set, showed an abundance of quality and guts – a little too literally in the latter case, given his repeated vomiting – but it was Sinner who coped better with the clammy, airless conditions in Arthur Ashe Stadium, recovering from a jarring mid-match fall to prevail in three hours and three minutes.

The contest turned on a gruelling second set in which Draper, not for the first time, was forced to battle his body as well as his opponent. Drenched in sweat and gripped by anxiety, the 22-year-old vomited three times, and although he courageously clung on to his serve throughout, Sinner raised his level in the climactic tiebreak to establish an unassailable lead. 

It was a bitter blow for Draper, who has worked so hard to strengthen his body after the catalogue of injuries that marred his early career, but admits that the anxiety he feels in big moments often manifests itself physically. After an early exchange of breaks, the Briton matched Sinner virtually step for step until 5-5 in the opening set, where an angst-ridden struggle on serve culminated with a double fault. Sinner served out the set with aplomb, and Draper said afterwards that it was in the next game, punctuated by a string of punishing rallies as the Italian pushed for an early break, that his condition began to deteriorate in earnest. 

“At 5-5 [I the first set] we had a really tight game,” said Draper. “Sometimes in the matches you feel an anxious build-up in certain moments, and I definitely felt like that was a big game. I threw in a couple of double faults, I think it was deuce a few times, and then when I came out for the first game in the second set, he was obviously trying to get the break first game. I managed to hold him off, but was definitely starting to not feel great in that moment.

“Even though I generally feel pretty relaxed and stuff, I definitely felt a little bit more excited today, a few more nerves around. I’m definitely someone who’s quite an anxious human being. I think when you add all that together sometimes, I do feel a bit [of] nausea on court, and I do feel a little bit sick when it gets tough.”

No player is immune to nerves, and Draper will undoubtedly learn from the experience. Sinner demonstrated his own strength in dealing with adversity by recovering from a huge scare in the ninth game, when he tumbled backwards after scrambling to retrieve a ball deep behind the baseline, jarring his left wrist. While it did not prevent him from winning the point with a thumping forehand pass, medical staff were on overtime at the ensuing changeover, a doctor administering medication to Draper as a physio worked on Sinner’s wrist. 

“The physio loosened it up very fast on court, so after I felt OK,” said Sinner, who grimaced as he received treatment. “Then after it went away by playing, which is good. Let’s see how it is tomorrow, when it’s cold, [if] it’s going to be a different feeling. Hopefully it’s nothing to be concerned about. I’m quite relaxed because, if it’s something bad, you feel it straightaway a bit more. Let’s see how it is.”

A fortnight that began with Sinner addressing the revelation that an independent tribunal cleared him of wrongdoing after he twice tested positive for a banned substance earlier this year, will now conclude with him seeking to win his second major of the season, following his maiden title at the Australian Open in January. In Sunday’s final, the 23-year-old will face Taylor Fritz, the American 12th seed, who later defeatedhis compatriot Frances Tiafoe 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 to become the first homegrown US Open finalist since Andy Roddick in 2006. Fritz, who has never previously advanced beyond the last eight of a major, said it was a challenge he would relish.

“I’ve always played well against Jannik, I think we’re one and one [in previous meetings],” said the 26-year-old Californian, who defeated Sinner in Indian Wells three years ago before the Italian returned the favour at the same venue last spring. 

“It’s been a while since we played, but last time he got me in three at Indian Wells. He hits the ball big, he’s a very strong ball-striker, but I feel Iike I always hit the ball really nice off of his ball. I think I typically play well against him.”

Fritz was not always at his best against Tiafoe, chiefly because his fellow American would not allow it. Having won the first three games – perhaps not altogether unexpectedly, given that his only loss in seven previous meetings with the 2022 semi-finalist came eight years ago – Fritz abruptly found himself confronted by a very different player. As Tiafoe seized the initiative by reeling off six of the next seven games, electrifying the crowd with his ebullient shot-making, the match began to assume a fresh complexion. Fritz hit back to level, breaking late in a service-dominated second set, but when Tiafoe broke early in the third to move ahead by two sets to one, the match appeared to be on his racket. 

Serving at 4-5 in the fourth set, Tiafoe appeared to be closing in on a famous victory. Instead, he frittered away two game points with a pair of double faults, butchered a forehand, and tamely netted a drop shot to hand Fritz the set. With the contest even and cramp setting in, Tiafoe was a double break down in the decider before he knew what had hit him. The match was over in all but name.

“I was the better player for sure tonight,” said a disconsolate Tiafoe. “In the fourth set, I just had some in-and-out cramps. I felt like my body just kind of shut down on me.” 

Draper would no doubt sympathise. 

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Inevitably, Frances Tiafoe was first on the scene, wrestling Fritz to the ground before Jessica Pegula, Madison Keys and the rest of the victorious US team could even get a look in. 

“As soon as I won, I turned to the team and I knew everyone was going to run at me,” said Fritz after his 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (8-6) victory over Berrettini. 

“It was great until Frances full speed head-butted me in the face.”

“I’m still a bit concussed to be fair,” chimed in Tiafoe, who went on to douse Fritz in water during his on-court interview with Jim Courier, then joined his team-mates in administering the same treatment to Keys.

Here was a victory built on quality and camaraderie. The US lived up to their status as title favourites with emphatic performances on the court, where they were beaten just twice in 24 matches, and winning chemistry off it. Fired by escape room high jinks, social media banter and deep mutual respect, the Americans created an energy so irresistibly infectious then even the opposition wasn’t immune. 

That much was evident when Berrettini and the watching Tiafoe shared a low-five after the Italian blazed a dazzling running pass beyond the stranded Fritz. For Tennis Australia it was pure gold, a moment that evoked something of the spirit of the Hopman Cup, the mixed team event the governing body controversially abandoned three years ago, and which their latest brainchild has effectively superseded.

“I had a blast these two weeks,” said David Witt, the US captain and coach of Pegula. “It was a lot of fun. A lot of tennis watching, but I had a blast. You guys are so immature, and I love you for it. I feel like I’m at home with my eight kids. This is like the Brady Bunch on something. It’s crazy.”

Beyond all the high spirits and prankery, however, it is too early to declare the United Cup an unmitigated success. Cast the mind back a couple of days, to Iga Swiatek’s evident distress following a 6-2, 6-2 defeat to Pegula, and the prevailing mood was quite different.

“Statement made,” declared the competition’s official Twitter account as Swiatek sat at courtside with a towel over her head, weeping, shaking and gnawing at her fingernails, inconsolable despite the best efforts of Aga Radwanska, the Polish captain, to comfort her. And a statement had indeed been made, although whether it was the one the United Cup’s social media team had in mind is another matter. 

Pegula’s excellence was, of course, beyond dispute. She revelled in the quick conditions, keeping Swiatek at bay with her length, power and consistency to produce the biggest shock – and quite possibly the best performance – of the entire competition. The Polish world No 1 has since withdrawn from next week’s event in Adelaide with a shoulder injury, and only time will tell whether her tears owed more to concern about her fitness ahead of the Australian Open than the pain of defeat. Either way, Pegula’s polished performance must have felt deeply cathartic after the pain Swiatek visited upon her last year in the French and US Open quarter-finals, and the semis of Miami and San Diego.

Yet the decisive nature of the scoreline made a rather different statement, highlighting the structural flaws inherent in the United Cup format. The decision to play the competition across three cities meant that, while Poland were obliged to hotfoot if from Brisbane to Sydney following the completion of a dramatic 3-2 win over Italy on Wednesday, the US team, who were based in Sydney from the outset, could simply put their feet up and reflect on a job well done in their group matches against the Czech Republic and Germany. Neither Pegula nor Swiatek were oblivious to the influence the piecemeal schedule may have had on the outcome.

“Obviously maybe I had a little bit of an advantage,” said Pegula after her win on Friday. “They just flew in yesterday. Definitely the fastest conditions I have played her. Every other place I’ve played her has been pretty slow. I think that favoured me a lot, and I was able to use that to my advantage.”

It was a typically honest and measured assessment by the 28-year-old, particularly after claiming one of the biggest wins of her career – and organisers would do well to pay heed. For all the memorable moments the United Cup has produced – Cameron Norrie securing the finest win of his career against Rafael Nadal, Petra Kvitova’s gutsy group-stage win over Pegula, Stefanos Tsitsipas’s cathartic third-set fightback against Borna Coric, who had won their three previous meetings, to name but a few – player welfare must also be a consideration.

It takes little more than 90 minutes to fly from Brisbane to Sydney, but that is to reckon without delays and the countless time-consuming monotonies familiar to any everyday traveller. Factor in other variables like the need to recover, acclimatise and practise, and the potential influence on results becomes clear. Unbeaten in the group stage, Poland were whitewashed 5-0 by the US. Croatia, meanwhile, who likewise won both their group matches, were beaten 4-1 by Italy. Both teams had to travel to Sydney but, while the Italians came from Brisbane, Croatia had a more arduous journey, making their way from Perth, with a flight time of more than four hours. 

It is, as Swiatek explained, a lot to take on.

“We didn’t have time to rest at all,” said Swiatek. “I’m not going to blame that, because we just have to play tennis. 

“But the past two days were pretty unfortunate. [With] everything, basically. Our travel got delayed yesterday. You know, after sitting all day you have to practise and get used to the conditions, but you can’t do that in 30 minutes. 

“The conditions are similar, the court is basically the same, but, you know, the rain. In Brisbane it was pretty humid and hot. Here, the opposite. So I wouldn’t say I needed to get used to it, but for sure I think traveling all day yesterday, my reaction time was probably a little bit worse.  

“It’s not only about traveling because you have to pack, you have to unpack, you have to organise everything. 

“When you’re traveling in such a big group, there is more going on. So it wasn’t easy. I didn’t recover well. I think I didn’t recover at all.”

Whether that had an impact on her subsequent injury, only the Pole can say. Yet the fact remains that, having already lost the world’s top-ranked man to injury following the withdrawal of Carlos Alcaraz, the Australian Open is now at risk of going ahead without the women’s No 1 too. Emulating the format of the now-defunct ATP Cup by playing the competition across three cities may help to foster the sport in Australia, but at what price?

Redundancy and confusion have also loomed large at the United Cup. Any competition in which five matches can be played over two days with nothing riding on the outcome is clearly imperfect. Spread the action across 18 teams, six groups and three cities, and even the most hardened tennis anorak is likely to encounter the odd moment of bewilderment.

That is not to decry the United Cup concept. A tournament that unites the world’s leading men and women can only be good for the game. Poland may have felt hard done by at seeing an Italy team they dismissed 4-1 in Brisbane reach the final ahead of them, but Vincenzo Santopadre’s side were good value for their semi-final win over Greece, with Martina Trevisan’s three-set victory over Maria Sakkari especially impressive. 

And while Poland could certainly have done without a formidable US team having “home” advantage, it is not without reason that Chris Evert hailed Pegula’s win over Swiatek as “the best match I’ve ever seen her play”. With Pegula in such outstanding form, they could have played the match on a clay court in Warsaw and the result might have been the same. 

Nadal nonetheless had a valid point when he called for a reappraisal of the United Cup’s scheduling. The Spaniard’s frustration stemmed from the fact that Spain were eliminated before their opening match against Great Britain was even finished. Having started their campaign in a three-team group with victory over Australia, Britain were immediately thrust back into action against Spain. Once they went 3-1 up against Nadal and company, their progress was guaranteed, rendering both the concluding mixed doubles and the subsequent tie between Spain and Australia meaningless.

“Putting things in perspective [with] this competition, I find a negative point,” said Nadal. “Competition is great. Idea is great. It’s not great that today we are playing for nothing. It’s the first year of this competition, so that’s the kind of thing that we need to fix, to improve, and to make it more interesting for everyone.

“I really believe that in a group of three, the loser of the first tie needs to play with the team that didn’t play yet, because that makes the competition much more interesting.”

Like many others, Nadal also touched on the wisdom of playing the mixed doubles last, a decision that frequently resulted in dead rubbers. 

All perfectly fair points, you would think. Yet Craig Tiley, the Tennis Australia chief, refused to countenance any criticism, instead pointing to impressive attendance figures and declaring the case against the competition closed. 

“The United Cup’s absolutely fantastic,” said Tiley on Tuesday. “We’ve had full stadiums, we’ve had over 120,000 people already go through the gate. Yesterday, 40,000 people in one day in Perth, Brisbane and in Sydney.  

“That’s remarkable, we’ve never had that. In some ways it beats most major tennis events around the world for one day’s attendance. So I think [it’s been] unbelievably successful.”

It was a curious way to defend an event conceived partly out of a desire to atone for the inequalities of the ATP Cup, a competition every bit as exclusively male as its name implies. Infamously, the now-defunct tournament resulted in some of the world’s top women being relegated to the outside courts at 2019’s Brisbane International, prompting Maria Sharapova to describe the concurrent WTA competition as “a little bit of a second-hand event”. It was a rare misstep by Tennis Australia, but one for which the United Cup has obvious potential to make redress.

From a pickle juice-infused Paula Badosa rallying from a set down to beat Britain’s Harriet Dart and Pegula’s shock win over Swiatek, to the superb quality on show from both players in Trevisan’s passion-drenched semi-final win over Sakkari, the WTA’s finest produced many of the United Cup’s best moments. Surely the case for the event would have been better served by highlighting the positive impact generated by the return of the world’s leading women?

There was certainly little emphasis on anticipated attendance figures two months ago, when the advent of the competition was trumpeted as a victory for gender equality. Ticket sales may have been slow initially but, in a country where tennis enjoys enduring popularity, putting bums on seats was never likely to be a problem, certainly not now that Covid restrictions have been relaxed. Egalitarianism was the watchword and, in that respect at least, the United Cup has been a resounding success. Evert spoke for many when she expressed her enthusiasm for the tournament in a post on social media.

“There’s a lot to be said for these team competitions like United Cup in tennis,” wrote the 18-time grand slam winner. “The men and women players cheering for each other. I’m watching Rafa screaming for Paula Badosa… It warms my heart! So refreshing!”

As Fritz pointed out, welcoming women back into the fold has created a better competition.

“Before we even came into this, I said that having the women playing with us just makes the team a lot stronger from the guys’ side,” said Fritz. 

“We’ve struggled a bit, I’d say. Having the women with us makes the team a lot stronger.”

With players and public alike on board, and Tiley promising a post-tournament “debrief” that promises to see the mixed doubles afforded greater significance, the signs are auspicious for the United Cup. 

Further refinements may be required – there is certainly a case for moving the tournament to a single location, or at least playing the knockout rounds at a “neutral” venue – but Tennis Australia has a potential hit on its hands.

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A new world order is emerging, one in which youth makes no apology for upsetting the apple cart – and never mind how many grand slam trophies it may contain. 

No one at the Laver Cup has embodied that spirit more vibrantly than Frances Tiafoe, the magnetic 24-year-old American who partnered his compatriot Jack Sock to victory over Federer and Nadal on Friday night.

Teed up beautifully by his team-mate Felix Auger-Aliassime, who earlier upset Djokovic in straight sets to put Team World on the cusp of victory, Tiafoe saved four match points en route to a dramatic 1-6, 7-6 (11), 10-8 victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas, sealing a momentous 13-8 win for his team.

If it was a disappointing outcome for Federer and company, the ebullient Tiafoe was not about to apologise – least of all for his role in derailing the Swiss legend’s retirement party.

“Absolutely not,” said Tiafoe. “I want to see him lit, but I’m not going to apologise to him. He’s got a lot to apologise [for] after the last 24 years, after beating everybody on the tour.  

“No, I won’t apologise, but I will say thank you for having me in this amazing event [and] also say thank you for what he did for the game. He’s a class act. Happy to know him, happy to call him friend, happy to call him a colleague, and best wishes in his second act. But I will not apologise.” 

McEnroe’s men began the afternoon trailing their European counterparts 8-4, but with each win worth three points on the final day, they acquired an unstoppable momentum once Auger-Aliassime had partnered Jack Sock to a 2-6, 6-3, 10-8 win over Murray and Matteo Berrettini in the opening match. 

Tiafoe’s victory was all the more impressive for the manner in which he turned things around after a blistering start by Tsitsipas. The Greek world No 6 initially picked up from where he left off on the opening day, when he blitzed Diego Schwartzman for the loss of just three games. But Tiafoe, roared on by his team-mates, was the more courageous player down the stretch, punishing the frequently questionable shot selection of Tsitsipas – who seemed determined to draw the American forward with short sliced backhands rather than driving through the ball – as he fought like his life depended on it.  

“There was a great team spirit, so we were battling from the beginning,” said McEnroe, who was dancing with joy by the end. “I think we felt that it is the big four, but obviously the circumstances are a little different than they could have been 10 years ago, five years ago.  We knew we had a shot at it, but it was an uphill battle.”

Circumstances are indeed different. Federer, his race finally run, was reduced to the role of cheerleader-cum-super coach, dispensing pearls of wisdom at the changeovers (“I know you like to play fast, but not now,” he implored Tsitsipas during the critical second-set tiebreak) while occasionally looking as though he wanted to tear out his immaculately coiffured hair. Nadal curtailed his involvement after his old rival’s emotional sendoff on the the opening night, returning to his home in Mallorca, where his wife is expecting their first child. Murray, who has been competing with a metal hip for the past three years, struggled to hit the high notes on a slow, gritty hard court that was never likely to bring out the best in his game.

That left Djokovic to shoulder the hopes of Team Europe, a task that looked well within his capabilities after the heroics of Saturday, when he returned to the match court after an absence of more than two months to demolish Tiafoe 6-1, 6-3 before partnering Matteo Berrettini to a 7-5, 6-2 over Alex de Minaur and Sock. Yet even the Serb has his limits, and having not played since beating Nick Kyrgios in the Wimbledon final, it was little wonder that he appeared hampered by a sore wrist against Auger-Aliassime, whose near-flawless performance would have presented a stern challenge at the best of times.  

The first half of 2022 may have belonged to the old guard, with Nadal winning the Australian and French Opens, and Djokovic claiming a seventh Wimbledon title, but the past month has been about the rise of a new generation of challengers. 

Carlos Alcaraz, 19, ushered in a fresh dawn at the US Open, becoming the first teenager to win a major title since Nadal in 2005 and the youngest world No 1 in history. Now Auger-Aliassime and Tiafoe – himself a semi-finalist in New York, where he pushed Alcaraz all the way in a five-set epic – have picked up the baton. 

“To do it here in Laver Cup, win for the first time, how bad Mac wanted it, how bad everybody else wanted it – seeing what Felix did, and Jack – I thought it was just time,” said Tiafoe. “It was time to get it done.”

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Then again, giving up is not in Alcaraz’s nature, a point he underlined with another signature late-night surge at the US Open, where he came from behind to outlast Frances Tiafoe in five dramatic sets, dashing American hopes of a first homegrown champion since Andy Roddick in 2003 with a 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 win.

Less than 48 hours after wrapping up a sensational quarter-final victory over Italy’s Jannik Sinner at 2.50am, the latest finish in the tournament’s history, Alcaraz was taken the distance for a third match in succession in Arthur Ashe Stadium, once again boarding the physical, mental and emotional rollercoaster before finally quelling Tiafoe’s inspired and courageous challenge a little before midnight.

His reward is a place in the first major final of his career on Sunday against Casper Ruud, the Norwegian fifth seed, with the world No 1 ranking on the line for both men. Alcaraz’s luminous talent has long since marked him out as his own man, but if ever there was a time to make like Nadal, it is now.

“No matter what I’m fighting for or what I am, I [am] just going for it,” said Alcaraz, who will become the youngest men’s No 1 in history if he beats Ruud, who overcame Karen Khachanov in the first semi-final.

“It’s close, but at the same time is so far away, you know? It’s a final of a grand slam, fighting for the No 1 in the world, something that I dreamed since I was a kid. I mean, what I have to say? Is final of a grand slam. Right now, I’m going to enjoy this moment.”

It was a night of high emotion, one on which both players dazzled with the ferocity and skill of their shot-making, the speed and elasticity of their movement, and the unflinching intensity of their commitment. The only pity of it was that someone had to come second, and while Alcaraz was left reflecting on the huge stride he had taken towards the fruition of his boyhood dreams – “I thought about a young man, like 10 years ago, dreaming for this moment right now,” he said afterwards – Tiafoe was left devastated by his inability to deliver the title to a country still reeling from the retirement of Serena Williams.

“I gave everything I had, too good from Carlos tonight,” Tiafoe told Patrick McEnroe at courtside as he fought back tears. “I gave everything I had for the last two weeks. Honestly, I came here wanting to win the US Open, I feel like I let you guys down. This one hurts, this one really, really hurts. 

“Too good from Carlos, man, you’re going to win a lot of grand slams, you’re a hell of a player, a hell of a person. I’m happy I got to share the court on such a big stage with you. I’m gonna come back and I will win this thing one day.”

Tiafoe, who was cheered on by Michelle Obama, will climb to a career-high ranking of 19th next week, but his elevation in the hearts and minds of the US public is inestimable. He has enraptured New York this past fortnight, defeating Nadal, seeing off another top-10 player in Andrey Rublev to reach his first major semi-final, and winning legions of new fans previously unfamiliar with the tale of a kid whose parents arrived in the country after fleeing the civil war in Sierra Leone, and learned to play tennis only because his father, Constant, took a job as a maintenance worker at a tennis club in Maryland that he had helped to build.

When Tiafoe won an absorbing first set on a tiebreak, it looked as though another extraordinary chapter might be added to that story. There had been little to choose between the pair up to then, with the American fending off the second of two early break points with an intelligent variation of pace on serve, and Alcaraz finding a big delivery down the centre to deny his opponent a set point at 5-6. 

The Spaniard would fend off another three set points in the ensuing tiebreak before he finally double-faulted to concede the opener. Having fallen behind, however, he set about seizing control of the contest, breaking in the sixth game of set two after a failed body-line attempt by Tiafoe, and dominating the third so completely that Tiafoe salvaged just nine points.

When Alcaraz moved a break ahead in the fourth, the contest looked over in all but name. Instead, Tiafoe, roared on by a crowd not yet ready to call it a night, reignited his hopes, levelling at 3-3, chasing down a drop shot to save a match point at 5-4, and then winning his eighth tiebreak of the tournament to force a decider.

Surely now Alcaraz’s sinew-stretching endeavours would finally catch up with him? Not so. His spirit is boundless, his willingness to accept he is beaten non-existent. Alcaraz may resist comparisons with Nadal, the last man to be crowned a grand slam champion at the age of 19, but in the face of such extraordinary resilience they are inevitable.

If they are still being made come Sunday night, he will not be complaining. 

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Nonetheless, here goes: one day, when Alcaraz reaches the end of his career and the Serena Williams-style video montages come to be compiled, few shots will feature more prominently than the airborne, behind-the-back effort the Spaniard conjured late in the second set of his 6-3, 6-7 (7-9), 6-7 (0-7), 7-5, 6-3 US Open quarter-final victory over Jannik Sinner.

On an electric night at Flushing Meadows, it was a moment that showcased all the qualities that mark out Alcaraz as a generational talent. Extraordinary speed, athleticism, strength and balance, certainly. But also a rare gift for improvisation, and the technical excellence to breathe life into strokes that, for most, live only in the hinterlands of the imagination. 

You know you have done something special when you leave Juan Carlos Ferrero, the quietly understated former world No 1, who has coached Alcaraz since he was 16, shaking his head in disbelief and mouthing, “Man.”

Context matters too when it comes to such considerations, and it is a reflection of the heights scaled by Sinner, in what was one of the finest matches of the season, that Alcaraz’s stroke of genius neither propelled him to a break nor gave him the impetus to win the tiebreak that followed. 

Instead, Sinner went on to level at a set all, and the Spanish teenager was forced to take the long-haul route to victory, finally prevailing at 2.50am after five hours and 15 minutes of unforgettable, gladiatorial tennis.

“I feel great to be in my first semi-final in a grand slam,” said Alcaraz, the third seed. “I feel better reaching [that] semi-final here at the US Open. 

“This tournament is amazing. The crowd is amazing, I would say the best in the world. I mean, the energy I received in this court at 3am, it was unbelievable. Probably in other tournaments, other places, everybody would have gone to their house to rest. But they kept in the court, supporting me. It was unbelievable.”

It will be remembered as the latest finish in the tournament’s history, comfortably eclipsing the previous record of 2.26am, and the night that Alcaraz reached his first major semi-final, the youngest man to do so since Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros in 2005. 

It will be remembered for the unrelenting drama that saw Alcaraz save a match point in the fourth set. For the relentless, jaw-dropping quality of the ball-striking from both men. For the kaleidoscopic range and extraordinary dexterity of their skills, and for the mesmeric speed of their court coverage. Rarely has the term “winner” felt more provisional.  

It will also go down as a coming-of-age moment in a rivalry between two young players with the ability to shape the course of the men’s game for years to come. Sinner, 21 years old and ranked 13th in the world, had won two of his three previous tour-level meetings with Alcaraz, most recently at Wimbledon two months ago. Another victory for the Italian might have risked temporarily dampening the sense of excitement surrounding their nascent tug-of-war. There is no risk of that now. Instead, Alcaraz landed an important psychological blow, levelling their personal series and demonstrating to his fellow prodigy that he will not have things all his own way on the game’s grandest stages.

“I always say that you have to believe in yourself all the time,” said Alcaraz in the immediate aftermath of victory. “The hope is the last thing that you lose. I just believed in myself, believed in my game.”

Frances Tiafoe has all but made that sentiment his personal mantra at this US Open, and it is the 24-year-old American that Alcaraz will face on Friday as both men attempt to reach their first major final. 

To the clamorous approval of a New York crowd craving a first homegrown champion since Andy Roddick – not to mention a prolongation of the wave of patriotic fervour stirred by Serena Williams’s farewell and sustained by his own inspired run – Tiafoe backed up his win over Rafael Nadal in the previous round with a 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-0), 6-4 victory over Andrey Rublev, the Russian ninth seed.

It was a performance of power, aggression and no little variety from Tiafoe, who fended off a set point in the opener with a mighty forehand and then played a flawless tiebreak to take a two-set lead, running the gamut from booming aces to the deftest of drop volleys. 

“It was honestly a laughable tiebreaker,” smiled Tiafoe afterwards. “You can’t make that up.” 

For Rublev, a sixth grand slam quarter-final without success – and a third in five years at Flushing Meadows – was almost too much to bear. When Tiafoe moved ahead decisively midway through the third set, it wasn’t just the Russian’s serve that was broken, it was also his spirit, the 24-year-old’s emotion turmoil painfully evident as he sat weeping into his towel. 

Tiafoe joked afterwards that he hoped Alcaraz and Sinner played each other into the ground. 

“I just hope they play a marathon match, super-long match, and they get really tired come Friday,” he said.

His wish granted, he must hope now hope he can bring Alcaraz back down to Earth. As Sinner discovered, that is easier said than done.

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Three years ago, Tiafoe advanced to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, where he was handily beaten by Rafael Nadal. He was hardly the first rising star to receive a reality check at the hands of a member of the big four, yet few who went before him were blessed with the speed, power and athleticism at Tiafoe’s disposal.

As he prepared to lock horns with Nadal again at this year’s US Open, the 24-year-old insisted that this time would be different. He was, he said, a better player now. Possessed of greater self-belief. No longer in awe of a player from whom he had never previously taken a set. He felt he could win, but also knew he would need to match the Spaniard’s intensity.

Tiafoe, 24, did that and a good deal more on Monday evening in New York, achieving the finest victory of his career as he upset Nadal 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to reach his second major quarter-final, in the process consigning the Spaniard to his first grand slam defeat of the season.  

A poignant moment followed as Tiafoe, who sobbed uncontrollably in the aftermath of victory, was interviewed on court by James Blake – a man who knows what it is to defeat Nadal in this stadium, having done so himself in 2005.

“I can’t believe it,” said Tiafoe, who will play Andrey Rublev next after the Russian defeated Cameron Norrie in straight sets. “He’s definitely one of the greatest of all time. I played unbelievable tennis today. I really don’t know what happened.”

For once, there were no miracles for Nadal. For once, he was unable to come into a grand slam with minimal preparation and play his way into form, mounting a gloriously improbable comeback from injury, as he had done in Melbourne and Paris.

Only Nadal will know how far along the road he is with his recovery from the abdominal injury he suffered at Wimbledon, which forced him to withdraw before his semi-final against Nick Kyrgios. What is certain is that he has been below his best in New York over the past week, dropping sets against Rinky Hijikata and Fabio Fognini in the opening two rounds and playing with an adjusted service motion to take the stress off his abdominal area. 

There were no excuses from the Spaniard afterwards. Nadal denied reports that he received treatment on an injury after leaving the court for seven minutes at the end of the first set, explaining that he was simply having more strapping applied to his wrists in an effort to keep the sweat off his hands in the suffocating humidity. Tiafoe, he insisted, was simply the better player on the day. 

“I was not able to hold a high level of tennis for a long time, I was not enough quick in my movement,” said Nadal, a four-time champion in New York, after his first defeat of the season at a major. “He was able to take the ball too many times very early, so I was not able to push him back 

“I don’t think I pushed him enough to create him the doubts that I need to create… I need to analyse why I was not able to create the damage that normally I do.”

Nadal, who was broken in the seventh game of the match, seemed peculiarly wedded to the tactic of hammering his second serve, an approach that led to nine double faults. Yet, having levelled the match after a poor service game from Tiafoe at the end of the second set, he began to play some of his best tennis of the afternoon before the American reasserted control with his huge serving and withering power off the ground.

“It’s so emotional, I can’t believe how well I did,” said Tiafoe. “To be able to beat Rafa, I never thought in my career I would beat a top-three [player], so it’s something to tell the kids, the grandkids one day.”

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Could it be that the Novak effect is contagious? Following his semi-final win over Carlos Alcaraz at the Vienna Open, Alexander Zverev spoke of how beating Djokovic at the Olympics, where he went on to claim the gold medal for Germany, had infused him with fresh belief. Zverev, who brushed the young Spaniard aside in straight sets, says he now believes he can win any tournament he enters. His recent results – just two defeats since Wimbledon – would suggest that confidence is well-founded. It is hardly achievement on a scale to compare with Djokovic’s 2011 vintage, but it is impressive nonetheless. When it comes to inspiration, it would seem that what goes around, comes around.

The obvious quibble is that Zverev, 24, who beat his childhood friend Frances Tiafoe 7-5, 6-4 in the Austrian capital to claim his fifth title of the season, has yet to win his first grand slam; by the same age, Djokovic had won five. Yet Zverev’s consistency in the majors this season – including a first semi-final at Roland Garros and a five-set defeat to Djokovic at the same stage of the US Open – has been undeniable. Here, the German produced a performance of poise and maturity, serving imperiously and raising his level at the key moments to draw level with Casper Ruud – and ahead of Djokovic – as winner of the most titles this year. 

Zverev landed a remarkable 82% of his first serves, winning four out of every five points when he did so, and it is indicative of Tiafoe’s excellence that, at the end of a week that brought victories over Stefanos Tsitsipas, Diego Schwartzman and Jannik Sinner, the outcome remained in doubt to the very end. The American conjured a wonderful array of strokes, trading heavyweight blows from the baseline, feathering drop shots, and volleying with subtlety and precision, and Zverev needed all his resolve to clinch an absorbing contest in straight sets.

“He didn’t let me play the way I wanted to play, tactically he was very good,” said Zverev, who will compete at next week’s Paris Masters before travelling to Turin for the season-ending ATP Finals. “But I am happy with the win, and I am happy with my fifth title of the year, and I am happy with my first in Vienna, so it was a good day.”

There was much mutual warmth between the players afterwards. As they awaited the trophy presentation, the pair sat chatting and laughing. The badinage continued into the post-match speeches, both of which were punctuated by some choice language that, while it may have offended some, brought a welcome touch of authenticity to the hackneyed exchange of pleasantries normally associated with such occasions. “I want to congratulate Sasha,” said Tiafoe, before looking over to the German, who he has known since their junior days, and adding with a mischievous grin: “Can’t fucking stand you.” 

Tiafoe, who went on to say that he expects Zverev to win “a ton of grand slams” and become world No 1, hailed what he described as “the best week I’ve had in my career”. “So far,” came the caveat from Zverev, who said that, since assembling a team headed by Wayne Ferreira, the former world No 6, Tiafoe has been “playing incredible tennis”. “You’ve been improving every single week, you’re going to climb up the rankings extremely fast I think – if you keep your shit together,” cautioned Zverev.

Over the past week, at least, that is something that Tiafoe, the first qualifier to reach the Vienna final in almost a decade, has done admirably. He is learning to play winning tennis while remaining true to his character. While the showboating of which Tiafoe has occasionally been guilty – and which would surely be anathema to Ferreira, who as a player eked every last ounce out of his talent – has been notably absent, the showmanship that comes so naturally to him has remained. Engaging with the crowd, making quips to his opponents, strutting his finger-wagging stuff after each fine shot – and there were plenty against Zverev – the charismatic Tiafoe is fast emerging as a less snarly version of Jimmy Connors, the game’s ultimate showman. All he needs now is the results to match.

“I knew I was capable of a week like this,” said Tiafoe. “It is not easy to beat good player after good player. These guys are so good. To have a week like this and know you can do it – and beat not just one top player but three great guys – is great.”

Forced to battle for six minutes simply to hold his opening service game, Tiafoe was broken at the second time of asking, compounding his own difficulties with a double fault on break point. Having asked to see a replay of his second serve, which missed by a distance, he jokingly asked Zverev, who was waiting to serve: “Are you calling that ball long?”

Was there design in his drollery? If Tiafoe was trying to break whatever tension he was feeling, or throw Zverev out of his deadly service rhythm, it worked. Firing a lunging forehand return for a winner to capitalise on some ferocious work from the baseline, the American broke back immediately, winning nine consecutive points.

Zverev remained implacable, steadying the ship with a solid hold before putting Tiafoe on the back foot with some blazing forehand winners as he served to stay in the set at 5-6. The American fought gamely, saving a set point with a penetrating first serve, but when a forehand approach went narrowly wide on the second, Zverev was firmly in the driving seat. Tiafoe continued to press hard and, in the ninth game of the second set, he denied Zverev two game points, first with a brilliant running pass and then with a backhand pick-up that, loaded with sidespin, utterly bamboozled the German. Once again, however, Zverev was unmoved. He closed out the game and then broke to love, stroking a majestic backhand return up the line on match point. Djokovic himself could hardly have done it better.

“The Olympics gave me a lot of confidence and I believe I can compete for any title that I play in,” said Zverev. “I am happy with the form I am in, but I’ve got two more massive weeks ahead of me and I hope I can do well.”

Elsewhere, Marin Cilic won the St Petersburg Open with a 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-4 victory over Taylor Fritz. “A great mental battle from my side,” said Cilic, the world No 28, a beaten finalist in Moscow last week. “It obviously helps so much for my confidence, end of the season, playing this well.”

Anett Kontaveit claimed her fourth title of the year with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Simona Halep in the final of the Transylvania Open. With the win, the Estonian moves up to a career-high ranking of eighth in the world and qualifies for the WTA Finals in Guadalajara, clinching the final spot ahead of Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur.

“I believe in myself a little bit more than I did a couple of years ago, and I was trying to be aggressive but also stay consistent, and not go for too much,” said Kontaveit, who had never previously beaten the Romanian. “I think she is such a good player, and I really tried just to focus on myself and not think about the three times that I had lost to her. I just took it as a new challenge.”

Donna Vekic defeated Clara Tauson, the fifth seed, 7-6 (7-3,) 6-2 to win the Courmayeur Ladies Open. The Croatian won her first title in more than four years without dropping a set.

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For Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti at the French Open, read Britain’s Jack Draper at Wimbledon. Djokovic opened his challenge for a sixth title at the All England Club with a 4-6,  6-1, 6-2, 6-2 win that will be remembered for a spirited Centre Court debut by the 19-year-old Draper, a wildcard ranked 253 in the world.

It wasn’t quite the virtuoso performance of Musetti in Paris, where Djokovic looked to be in genuine danger after losing the first two sets. There was never any real sense of a potential upset brewing. Draper was forced to fend off seven break points in the opening set, and it always seemed likely that the direction of travel would change once Djokovic found his range on the return.

Yet Draper did more than enough to demonstrate that he has the game to trouble the very best on grass, just as he had in beating Jannik Sinner and Alexander Bublik, both ranked inside the world’s top 40, en route to the quarter-finals at Queen’s Club. To put Draper’s achievement in context, it was the first time since 2010 that Djokovic has dropped a set in the opening round of Wimbledon.  

“I thought he was playing well, he was fighting,” said Djokovic, who will play Kevin Anderson, his opponent in the 2018 final, in round two.

“For him, it was a unique occasion playing for the first time on the Wimbledon Centre Court. He has done well. He’s a youngster, 19 years old, but he’s tall, he’s strong, he’s got that lefty serve that is very awkward for right-handed players to face, particularly on grass. He’s got an all-round game really, very good flat backhand, also a good forehand. Maybe his movement could improve, he probably can and should move a bit better, but he’s still young and there’s always room for improvement. He’s got a very good base.”

If Djokovic had hoped his opponent might be overawed by the occasion, he was to be disappointed. For a set, Draper’s swinging southpaw serve frequently had the game’s greatest returner at sixes and sevens. Draper was not afraid to trade blows with the defending champion from the back of the court either, fearlessly committing to his shots. As he found corners and painted lines, his two-handed backhand was so effective that at times he resembled a left-handed Djokovic.

The problem for Draper was that once Djokovic had got the measure of his serve, he grew in confidence on his own delivery. It left Draper with no way of hurting the world No 1, and it is indicative of the way the dynamic of the match shifted that while Djokovic finished the afternoon with 25 aces – “One of the best serving performances that I can recall on any surface,” he later called it – the teenager won only eight points against serve after the first set.

There is a serenity that comes over Djokovic in these situations, and it may yet carry him to what would be the third leg of a grand slam, following his victories at the Australian and French Opens. He is an overwhelming favourite for Wimbledon, and his mood will no doubt have brightened even further when he learned that Stefanos Tsitsipas, who led him by two sets to love at Roland Garros a fortnight ago, had lost to Frances Tiafoe in straight sets. Tsitsipas, the third seed, suffered the first of four breaks in the opening game and failed to convert any of his seven opportunities against the American’s serve as he fell to a 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 defeat on Court One.

“My opponent played significantly better than me,” said Tsitsipas, who was seeded to meet Djokovic in the semi-finals. “There wasn’t the drive that I was hoping for. There wasn’t that same fighting spirit that I usually put out on the court.

“I was thinking maybe I should have played the week before Wimbledon, either Mallorca or Eastbourne, I’m not sure. Any of these tournaments would have helped get me in a better shape, get my tennis ready for the grass-court season.

“The transition from clay to grass, in my opinion, is probably the most difficult one, if not the biggest challenge in our sport. I just wasn’t able to adapt, I wasn’t able to figure these things out early in the match. You just cannot be defensive on grass. It takes away so much from your game.

“I honestly feel if I could have worked a bit more. If I would have played a bit more on that surface, I’m pretty confident I would have done better.”

It was the first time that the 56th-ranked Tiafoe, the title winner in Nottingham and a quarter-finalist at Queen’s Club, had beaten a top-five player.

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