Nadal used his skill and
experience to complete a 7-6
(6), 6-4, 6-1 victory and earn a
berth in Sunday’s final
against Daniil Medvedev of
Russia at Arthur Ashe Sta-
dium.
“I survived at that mo-
ment,” Nadal, a three-time
champion here, said of the
tiebreaker against Berret-
tini. “Then I started to play
with more calm. I’m super
happy to be back in the final
of the U.S. Open.”
It will be Nadal’s 27th
appearance in a Grand Slam
singles final, second only to
Federer’s 31. Nadal has won
18 titles, also second to Fed-
erer, who has 20. “It means a
lot to be back where I am
today after some tough
moments at the beginning of
the season,” said Nadal, who
retired from his semifinal
here last year because of a
knee injury and later under-
went ankle surgery. He also
needed treatment for a
forearm injury during this
tournament.
Big-serving Berrettini led
the tiebreaker 4-0. Nadal
looked at each point, not at
the big picture. “My goal in
that moment is to put the
first point on my score and
then win one of the next two
points on the return at least.
Then you are 5-2. You are in a
tough situation, but if youare able to win the next two
points with your serve, then
you are 5-4,” he said. That’s
what happened. Berrettini
won the next point on a
forehand volley but lost the
next one on a short back-
hand. Another backhand
unforced error by Berrettini
made it 6-6. Two more un-
forced errors and the tie-
breaker belonged to Nadal.
So, essentially, did the
match.
“Winning the first set
would have meant a lot,
especially with him,” Berret-
tini said. “It’s tough to go a
set down after more than an
hour with him.”Berrettini’s serve reached
133 mph, but his 44 unforced
errors — to 18 by Nadal —
were too plentiful to over-
come. Nor did Berrettini
gain any break points on
Nadal. “But I cannot com-
plain about what I did,” he
said. “I was playing with
Rafa, center court, in semis. I
think it’s OK.”
In the first semifinal,
fifth-seeded Medvedev held
off unseeded Grigor Dim-
itrov early and pulled away
late for a 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-3 win
that improved his summer
hardcourt record to 20-2.
One of those losses, however,
was to Nadal in the final of a
tournament at Montreal last
month.
“Talking about Rafa, it’s
tough to find words,” Medve-
dev said. “So many players
and so many people found
them before me. He’s one of
the greatest champions in
the history of our sport. He’s
just a machine, a beast on
the court.”
Nadal appreciated the
compliment. “Always is
beautiful to hear nice things
from your colleagues. Happy
for that,” he said. “Just I
hope to be like this on Sun-
day. I will need it.”
Medvedev has been on his
best behavior after he in-
curred $9,000 in fines for
displaying his middle finger
to the crowd and grabbing atowel from a towel boy earli-
er in the tournament. He’d
prefer to be known for his
achievements, such as his
tour-leading 50 wins this
season, than for being a
clown. The fans who booed
him so lustily last week
seemed to be on his side now.
“I can only say I’m a really
calm person in life. I actually
have no idea why the
demons go out when I play
tennis,” he said. “I have been
working on it a lot and I have
improved a lot.”
He’s capable of giving
Nadal, his idol, a stern chal-
lenge Sunday. “To play him
in your first Grand Slam
final should be, I want to say,
a funny thing. It’s not going
to be a funny thing, but it’s
going to be an amazing thing
to live,” Medvedev said.
Can the 23-year-old Rus-
sian end the Big Three’s
Grand Slam monopoly? “At
some point, these days,
going to happen sooner than
later that this era going to
end. Is arriving to the end. I
am 33. Novak is 32. Roger is- Andy [Murray] is 32, too,”
Nadal said. “The clock is not
stopping. That’s part of the
cycle of life. I’m not much
worried about this because
in tennis always going to be
great champions.”
Nadal is one of them, and
he’s not ready to step aside.
Not here, and not now.
DANIIL MEDVEDEVhits a return against Grigor Dimitrov in the first men’s semifinal match.Timothy A. ClaryGetty ImagesNadal, Medvedev sweep to the final
[Elliott, from D1]D8 LATIMES.COM/SPORTS
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Javier Hernandez
scored after U.S. newcomer
Sergino Dest had an oppo-
nent play the ball through
Dest’s legs in the 21st min-
ute, Erick Gutierrezand
Uriel Antuna added late
goals, and Mexico mauled
the United States 3-0 in an
exhibition Friday night for
its biggest victory margin
over its regional rival in a
decade.
Mexico had total control
of the match after an even
first 20 minutes at MetLife
Stadium in East Rutherford,
N.J. Gutierrez scored the
second goal in the 78th, a
minute after entering, fol-
lowing a poor clearance by
American goalkeeper Zack
Steffen that was inter-
cepted. The Galaxy’s An-
tuna, another late substi-
tute, added an 82nd-minute
goal on a counterattack.
The Americans lost to
Mexico by three goals for the
first time since a 5-0 defeat in
the 2009 CONCACAF Gold
Cup final. El Tri beat the U.S.
1-0 two months ago in the lat-
est Gold Cup final in July
and has won four of the last
six meetings, with one draw.
Josh Sargent, a 19-year-
old American, took a penalty
kick in the 88th minute
rather than star Christian
Pulisic and was stopped by
Jonathan Orozco.
BASKETBALL
Divac joins Hall
with 2019 class
Vlade Divac, the Yugo-
slav great and former Laker,
was inducted into the
Basketball Hall of Fame in
Springfield, Mass. He was
joined by Jack Sikma, Sid-
ney Moncrief, Paul West-
phal, Bobby Jones, Al Attles
and Teresa Weatherspoon.
Chuck Cooper and Carl
Braun were inducted post-
humously, and former Clip-
pers coachBill Fitch was un-
able to attend for health rea-
sons. Teams from Tennes-
see A&I and Wayland
Baptist also were honored.
Divac was one of the first
Europeans to star in the
NBA, playing seven seasons
with the Lakers and six with
the Sacramento Kings. He
was presented by Jerry
West, the Lakers executive
who drafted him.
The Philadelphia 76ers
will honor Charles Barkley
with a statue, to be unveiled
Sept. 13, along their Legends
Walk outside their practice
facility in Camden. It will
join statues of other 76ers
legends including Wilt
Chamberlain, Maurice
Cheeks, Julius Ervingand
Jones. ... The Washington
Mystics clinched the No. 1
seed in the WNBA playoffs.
They and Connecticut both
secured a double-bye into
the semifinals. New York
(9-24) clinched the best
chance to win the WNBA
draft lottery.
ETC.NHL trying out
female officials
The NHL for the first
time picked four women to
work as on-ice officials at
several prospect tourna-
ments this weekend.
Katie Guay and Kelly
Cookewere selected as ref-
erees, whileKirsten Welsh
and Kendall Hanley will
work as linesmen.
Guay, the most experi-
enced of the four, having ref-
ereed women’s games at last
year’s Winter Olympics, is
assigned to work the Ducks-
hosted tournament in
Irvine.Joe Thorntonis coming
back for another season at
age 40, signing a one-year,
$2-million contract with the
San Jose Sharks after briefly
contemplating retirement.
... Carolina signed defense-
man Jake Gardinerto a
four-year contract at an av-
erage salary of $4.05 million.A judge in Northern Cali-
fornia denied a request for a
temporary restraining order
that would have allowed
Jerry Hollendorfer to race
at Golden Gate Fields. Hol-
lendorfer has been barred
from tracks owned by the
Stronach Group after six
horse deaths this year at two
of its tracks. Hollendorfer
won a similar request to run
horses at Del Mar. What re-
mains to be seen is whether
he can get a court order that
would allow him to run at
Santa Anita, which starts its
fall meeting Sept. 27.
— John CherwaChurchill Downs says it
will seek approval from Ken-
tucky horse racing regula-
tors to allow the Louisville
track to host live racing in
the winter of 2020.Caster Semenyasigned
with South African women’s
soccer club JVW FC and may
be considering giving up
track and field. The Olympic
800-meter champion is in a
legal battle with the IAAF
over her right to compete
without taking testoster-
one-suppressing medi-
cation. ... Former USC
standout Michael Norman
won the 400 meters at the Di-
amond League finals in Bel-
gium in 44.26 seconds.Fairfax High announced
its new boys’ basketball
coach is Reggie Morris Jr.,
who coached Russell West-
brook at Lawndale Leu-
zinger, won a state title at
Redondo and served as an
assistant at Loyola Mary-
mount and Pepperdine.
— Eric SondheimerNASCAR driver Erik Jones
signed a one-year extension
with Joe Gibbs Racing.Chris Duncan, the for-
mer outfielder who helped
the St. Louis Cardinals win
the 2006 World Series, died
of brain cancer at 38.THE DAY IN SPORTSMexico deals U.S.
a lopsided loss
staff and wire reports
NEW YORK — Serena
Williams’ coach, Patrick
Mouratoglou, predicted Ca-
nadian teenager Bianca An-
dreescu would reach the U.S.
Open women’s final. “And I
think she’s going to be No. 1
soon,” he said. “I mean, not
too soon, but in the future,
because she has everything
that’s needed to be No. 1. A
lot of respect for her.”
But Mouratoglou didn’t
predict what will happen
when eighth-seeded
Williams and No. 15 An-
dreescu play for the champi-
onship on Saturday at
Arthur Ashe Stadium. It will
be Williams’ fourth attempt
to tie Margaret Court’s
record of 24 Grand Slam
tournament singles titles
following her defeats at
Wimbledon the last two
years and her rancorous U.S.
Open loss to Naomi Osaka
last year. Williams lost in
straight sets on all three oc-
casions.
According to
Mouratoglou, those efforts
were undermined by
Williams’ lack of fitness and
not an inability to handle the
pressure of equaling Court’s
record. She’s fit now, he said,
making this her best chance
to win since she returned to
competition after giving
birth to her daughterOlympia two years ago.
“She was in three finals
because she’s the best com-
petitor of all times, not be-
cause she was ready,”
Mouratoglou said Friday.
“You have to realize that to
be able to deal with pressure
you need to feel strong. If you
feel weak or not as strong as
you wish you would, it’s more
difficult to beat the pressure.
“When you don’t move
well you can’t be as confi-
dent as you should be, be-
cause if your ‘A’ game doesn’t
work, you don’t have any
other option, and for me
that’s what happened. I
think it’s totally different sit-
uation now, because now she
can move. If she needs to
play the rally, she can play
the rally. We have seen that I
think a few times during the
tournament. So there is no
panic if she misses a bit more
than usual. No problem.
There are other options of
play.”
Williams, who has won a
tournament-leading 94% of
her service games (51 of 54),
has played two of the short-
est matches here, a 44-min-
ute romp over Wang Qiang
in the quarterfinals and a
one-hour dismissal of Maria
Sharapova in the first
round. She has played only
one three-set match, losing
the opener to fellow Ameri-
can Caty McNally in the sec-
ond round before regroup-
ing.
This will be the 33rd
Grand Slam tournament fi-
nal for Williams, who won
the first of her six titles here
in 1999 — the year before
first-time Slam finalist An-dreescu was born. A win on
Saturday would bring
Williams a check for $3.85
million — the runner-up
earns $1.9 million — and
would move her past Chris
Evert for the most U.S. Open
singles wins at 102.
“I just have to go out
there above all, most of all,
just stay relaxed,” Williams
said after her 6-3, 6-1 semifi-
nal mastery of Elina Svi-
tolina. “There’s so many dif-
ferent emotions in finals. It
just brings out so many
highs and lows, nerves and
expectations. It’s a lot.”
Andreescu, 19, lost a set to
American Taylor Townsend
in the round of 16 and had to
play more than two hours in
each of her last two matches,
as she rallied past Elise
Mertens in the quarterfinals
and came back from 2-5 in
the second set to defeat Be-
linda Bencic in straight sets
in the semifinals. Early-sea-
son wins in Auckland, New
Zealand, and at Indian Wellshave brought confidence to
a game that brims with
power and all-court capa-
bility.
Beating Williams is diffi-
cult, but it’s not impossible.
“For sure, the toughest
ask she’s had this year in her
young career. But she’s a
warrior and a street fighter.
She strives to compete,” said
her coach, Sylvain Bruneau.
“I strongly hope and am
pretty confident she’s going
to step in the arena [on Sat-
urday] both feet in, and go-
ing at it. Obviously there is
another player on the court
who is going to have her say
in this match, but I’m pretty
sure Bianca is going to be
able to go and will go in there
with the right frame of
mind.”Etc.
Former USC standout
Robert Farah teamed with
fellow Colombian Juan
Sebastian Cabal to win their
second consecutive Grand
Slam tournament men’s
doubles title with a 6-4, 7-5
win over Marcel Granollers
of Spain and Horacio Zebal-
los of Argentina. Farah won
two NCAA team champi-
onships at USC and shared
an NCAA doubles title.
“They have been very
good singles players and
they are very good doubles
players,” Farah said of the
duo’s opponents. “That’s a
very tough combination to
play against. To be able to
come out the way we did and
with the energy we did and
to come through it is very re-
warding for us and we’re
very happy for it.”Williams steps to plate
for Grand Slam attempt
A victory over
Andreescu would
finally tie Court’s
mark of 24 titles.
By Helene ElliottAt New York
Surface: Hardcourt-OutdoorMEN’S SINGLES
Semifinals
Daniil Medvedev (5), Russia, def. Grigor Dimitrov,
Bulgaria, 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-3.
Rafael Nadal (2), Spain, def. Matteo Berrettini (24),
Italy, 7-6 (6), 6-4, 6-1.MEN’S DOUBLES
Finals
Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal (1), Colom-
bia, def. Marcel Granollers, Spain, and Horacio Zeballos
(8), Argentina, 6-4, 7-5.WOMEN’S DOUBLES
Semifinal
Elise Mertens, Belgium, and Aryna Sabalenka (4),
Belarus, def. Vania King and Caroline Dolehide, United
States, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.U.S. OPEN
RESULTSLAKERS LOVE
Elise AmendolaAssociated PressVlade Divac, right, hugs his presenter, Jerry West,
the Lakers executive who drafted him into the
NBA, during the Basketball Hall of Fame en-
shrinement ceremony Friday in Springfield, Mass.Today’s final
What:U.S. Open women’s
singles championship.
Who:No. 8 Serena
Williams vs. No. 15 Bianca
Andreescu
When:1 p.m. PDT
TV:ESPNWilliams Andreescu