Daniil Medvedev

Auger-Aliassime was the first Canadian male to reach the last four at the US Open in the tournament's history (since 1881) and was the youngest men's singles semifinalist in New York since 20-year-old Juan Martin del Potro won the title in 2009. On his performance against Medvedev, while he was disappointed he was unable to convert two set points during the second set, he admitted that the Russian was just too good.

The 25-year-old is yet to drop a set in New York and has been in strong form since the Tokyo Olympics, winning his fourth ATP Masters 1000 crown in Toronto, before reaching the semifinals in Cincinnati. Medvedev's one-hour 43-minute victory over Evans, in which he struck 24 winners, means he now holds a 15-2 record since Wimbledon.

The 25-year-old took down big-server John Isner in the semifinals as he stood two or three feet closer to the baseline on return to counter the height and angle of the serve. Medvedev successfully repeated this against 6'11" Opelka, breaking twice as he won in 85 minutes. The world No. 2 has now won 12 tour-level titles, with 11 of those triumphs coming on hard courts.

The tournament acts as a warm-up for Wimbledon, which begins on Monday. Medvedev, who had looked lost after his first-round exit at the Halle Open this month, was in impeccable form, dropping only one set in the entire tournament en route to title victory. He had beaten Corentin Moutet, fifth seed Casper Ruud and fourth seed Pablo Carreno Busta on way to the final.

Medvedev beat the seventh seed Rublev 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 and will now face either world No.5 Stefanos Tsitsipas or 20-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals. He goes into the semi-finals on a 19-match unbeaten run.