Zverev, who followed up his maiden major at the French Open with a runner-up finish at Wimbledon, saved two set points in the final tiebreaker to close out the 6-3, 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (8/6) victory.
He’ll face the winner of the all-American semi-final between eighth-seeded Ben Shelton and 11th seed Frances Tiafoe in Sunday’s championship match.
The German predicted an “absolutely epic” contest between the two Americans, after which he’ll be out to thwart the winner’s bid to become the first American man in 23 years to lift a Grand Slam trophy.
“Hopefully I can not make the American dream come true on Sunday,” said Zverev, who came agonizingly close to the US Open title in 2020 before falling to Dominic Thiem in five sets.
After a somewhat inauspicious start to the tournament, spending nine hours and 26 minutes on court in laborious five-set victories in the first and second rounds, Zverev has steadily upped his game.
He needed two hours and 57 minutes to deny 50th-ranked Khachanov’s bid to become the lowest-ranked Grand Slam finalist since number 54 Marcos Baghdatis at the 2006 Australian Open.
But the Russian, who fell to Zverev in the Olympic gold medal match in Tokyo in 2021, put up a spirited challenge in the second and third sets.
Unable to make any real headway in the first set, Khachanov fell a quick break down in the second.
The Russian couldn’t resist a grin when he snuck a passing shot by Zverev to open the fourth game, and flung his arm into the air in celebration three points later when a forehand winner gave him his first break chance of the match.
Zverev double faulted to hand him a break that leveled the set at 2-2.
Khachanov had another chance two games later when Zverev’s backhand into the net to end a 32-shot rally gave him a break point.
But the German came up with a big serve and escaped the danger as they went to the tiebreaker, where Khachanov denied Zverev on two set points with thumping forehand and a brilliant backhand down the line before Zverev closed out the set.
Neither player mustered a break point in a tense third set. Khachanov had a chance to extend the match when he took a 6-4 lead in the tiebreaker, but after a pair of forehand errors from the Russian Zverev came up with his 15th ace and sealed the win on the next point when Khachanov sent a forehand long. (AFP)
