NEW YORK (AP) — Top-ranked Jannik Sinner used an aggressive, net-rushing style to US Open reached the semifinals for the first time on Wednesday evening by beating 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev 6-2, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Sinner, a 23-year-old Italian who was cleared of doping less than a week before the start of the US Open after testing positive twice in March for traces of an anabolic steroid, will face No. 25 Jack Draper of Great Britain on Friday for a place in the final.

After Week 1 eliminations of Novak Djokovic and Carlos AlcarazSinner took over as the title favorite and is now the only man left in the field with a Grand Slam trophy, having won his first at the Australian Open in January by beating Medvedev in the final in five sets after losing the first two.

As the extremely accurate scoring shows, this match was unusually chaotic as they took turns dominating a set.

First it was Sinner who was superior. Then that role was reserved for Medvedev, the runner-up at Flushing Meadows after Djokovic last year and Rafael Nadal in 2019. Then Sinner regained the upper hand in the third. In the fourth, from 3-all, Sinner surged, saved a couple of break points and broke Medvedev to lead 5-3.

“We know each other pretty well. … We knew it was going to be very physical,” said Sinner, who lost to Medvedev in five sets at Wimbledon in July. “The first two sets were weird because whoever made the first break, then they started rolling.”

The secret: Sinner won the point 28 of the 33 times he came to the net, including 9 of the 11 times with serve-and-volley approaches.

“We tried to work really hard on that aspect of the game,” Sinner said. “We just tried to shake the game up a little bit.”

Medvedev was particularly inconsistent, having only one winner less than Sinner, but finishing with 19 more unforced errors.

The other semi-final on Friday is No. 12 Taylor Fritz vs. No. 20 Frances Tiafoe in the first all-American men’s match at this level at a major tournament in 19 years.

The women’s semi-finals on Thursday night are Jessica Pegula vs. Karolina Muchova and Aryna Sabalenka vs. Emma Navarro. Pegula defeated No. 1 Iga Swiatek 6-2, 6-4 on wednesday.

The 22-year-old Draper reached his first Grand Slam semi-final – and became the first Briton to reach the US Open semi-final since Andy Murray lifted the trophy in 2012 – by beating world No. 10 Alex de Minaur 6-3, 7-5, 6-2.

Draper has won all 15 sets so far, but against Sinner it looks like things will get tougher.

“This isn’t something I’m going to do overnight. I’ve believed for a long time that I’ve been working hard and doing the right things, and I knew my time was coming,” said Draper, whose right thigh was taped by a trainer after he felt something at the end of the first set. “I didn’t know when it would be, but hopefully I can do a lot of great things from here. I’m very proud of myself.”

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis