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NewsWhistle was live at the 2019 US Open tennis tournament, where players and fans experienced fourteen days of fun and forehands in Flushing Meadows, Queens.

This year’s competition ran from August 26th until September 8th.

Our update for Friday, September 6, the Men’s Semifinals, is below.

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DAY TWELVE – 2019 US OPEN DIARY

THE SLAMMIN’ SUMMARY

Today was the men’s semifinal of the US Open.

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In three short sets, Russian fifth-seed Daniil Medvedev defeated unseeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (pictured above). The final score 7-6, 6-4, 6-3.

With this win, Medvedev has become the third player to reach the Canada, Cincinnati, Washington, and US Open finals in the same season.

Medvedev on his opponent in the finals, Rafael Nadal:

“Talking about Rafa, it’s tough to find words. 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. The energy he’s showing is just amazing.”

“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.”

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In a three-set battle, Spanish third-seed Rafael Nadal (pictured above) defeated twenty-fourth-seed Italian Matteo Berrettini.

Nadal has only dropped one set throughout his road to the finals of the 2019 US Open.

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RESULTS

Moving On To The Finals – Daniil Medvedev (RUS) [5], and Rafael Nadal (ESP) [3].

Eliminated From The Tournament – Grigor Dimitrov (BGR) (Defeated by Daniil Medvedev), and Matteo Berrettini (ITL) [24] (Defeated by Rafael Nadal).

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A BIG-TIME QUOTE 

Russian five-seed Daniil Medvedev on why he’s working on improving his mentality on the court:

“I lost a lot of matches in my career when I was getting crazy. You never know when you lose a match just because you lost it or because you get crazy and lost some concentration. You can never be sure about it.”

“I was sitting after these matches, I was like, I don’t want to lose these matches because I get crazy or because I lose some concentration because of the fans, because of the referees, I don’t know, something that happens during the match. That’s why.”

“I want to lose matches because I was a worse tennis player on the court than my opponent. If I manage to do it every time, that’s going to be great.”

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CELEBRITIES

Celebrities in attendance today include actress Emily Mortimer, actor Alessandro Nivola, tennis player Rod Laver, actor Judd Hirsch, actor Chazz Palminteri, broadcaster Robin Roberts, tennis player Virginia Wade, journalist Tom Brokaw, former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, singer Joe Jonas, singer Nick Jonas, actress Priyanka Chopra, MMA fighter Cain Velasquez, actor Charlie Heaton, actress Natalia Dyer, skier Lindsay Von, actor Adam Scott, actress Mariska Hargitay, basketball player Devin Booker, actor Paul Wesley, composer Lin Manuel Miranda, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, ice hockey player Wayne Gretzky, and ice hockey player Brad Marchand.

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DID YOU KNOW?

This is the first Grand Slam semifinal to feature three players born in the 1990s. Grigor Dimitrov was born in 1991, and both Daniil Medvedev and Matteo Berrettini were born in 1996.

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All copyrighted images by photographer Neil Bainton, unless stated otherwise.

NOTE: Today’s lead-in image is a composite from the following Neil Bainton photo:

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For all of our 2019 US Open coverage, click here.