The controversial world number one is the only thing standing in the way of him achieving the American dream of ending a 21-year Grand Slam title drought.
World No. 1 Jannik Sinner, who entered the U.S. Open about two weeks ago while embroiled in a doping scandal, continued his march to the final by beating British up-and-comer Jack Draper 7-5, 7-6 (3), 6-2 on Friday at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
World No. 1 Sinner, who won the Australian Open title earlier this year for the only major victory of his career, will face the winner of the U.S. Championship semifinal between Francis Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz later on Friday night in Sunday's final.
No American-born male player has won a major title since Andy Roddick won at Queen's in 2003.
Sinner, the only player on tour this year to reach the quarterfinals or better in all four Grand Slam tournaments, is not discouraged after testing positive for trace amounts of the anabolic steroid clostebol twice within eight days in March and being stripped of prize money and rankings points.
However, the International Tennis Integrity Authority did not suspend Sinner, finding the 23-year-old Italian was not at fault and that the low drug levels were “the result of contamination by a member of his support team who was applying a commercial spray containing clostebol to his own skin to treat a minor wound”.
Draper had never made it past the fourth round at a Grand Slam tournament until his quarterfinal run at Flushing Meadows, when he went 15-0 without dropping a set, including a dominant win over 10th seed Alex de Minaur.
