For all the excitement on Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe’s side of the draw at the U.S. Open, the other half of the bracket has been pretty strange.
Alexander Zverev was always the favorite to get through to the semifinal, but he certainly got plenty of help from the tennis gods.
Taylor Fritz, Flavio Cobolli, Rafael Jodar, Alex de Minaur and Felix Auger-Aliassime all went down early, leaving the door wide open for the German to get to his fourth Grand Slam semi of the season.
And, would you look at that, Zverev will face another unseeded player, Karen Khachanov, on Friday.
U.S. Open semifinal: Zverev vs. Khachanov pick
While he was unseeded for this tournament, it’s a bit of a misnomer to label Khachanov that way.
Just a couple of months ago, he was the No. 13 seed at the French Open, and he was the 19th-seed at Wimbledon. Ask any tennis fan and they’ll be happy to tell you that the Russian is a really tough out, especially in best-of-five formats.
That’s because Khachanov makes you earn every point of every match.
He may not have the power and speed that the elite players on the ATP Tour pack, but he makes up for it with his relentlessness and ability to play a clean game.
Zverev, meanwhile, does have a habit of coming unglued in these moments.
He did get the monkey off his back with his maiden Grand Slam at Roland Garros, but his record in the business end of major tournaments is still concerning.
And the German hasn’t really been at his best during this fortnight, either.
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Zverev needed five sets against Lorenzo Sonego and Quentin Halys in the first two rounds, and although he’s whitewashed his last three opponents, it wasn’t really a murderers’ row. That includes World No. 70 Botic van de Zandschulp, who was out of gas in the quarterfinals.
Khachanov should be fresh after benefiting from a mid-match retirement by Alexander Blockx in the quarterfinals, and I think he’ll give Zverev plenty of issues Friday.
The Play: Khachanov moneyline (+390, FanDuel)
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Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.
