NEW YORK: After establishing a commanding lead over Karen Khachanov in his U.S. Open semifinal on Friday, Casper Ruud won with a score of 7-6 (5), 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 and advanced to his second Grand Slam championship match of the year.

When it was over, fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium yelled out his name, "Ruuuuud!" but it seemed more like boos than a standing ovation.

The 23-year-old Norwegian Ruud, who finished second to Rafael Nadal at the French Open in June, may climb from No. 7 to No. 1 in the rankings if he wins the title on Sunday at Flushing Meadows.

Obviously overjoyed after Roland Garros, Ruud said, "but also modest enough to think that might be my only final of my career."

Well, here he is, just a few months later, back at that point. He will face either No. 26 Frances Tiafoe of the United States or No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in this final on Sunday. Alcaraz, like Ruud, had a chance to surpass Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 U.S. Open champion, and take over as the number one player after the competition.

In that round in New York, all four of the men's semifinalists were competing for the first time. When it absolutely had to, in 1881--the year the U.S. Championships were first held--that had not occurred during the competition.

Ruud is taught by his father, former professional player Christian, and the strategy against 31st-ranked Khachanov, a 6-foot-6 Russian with a strong serve who defeated Wimbledon runner-up Nick Kyrgios in five sets in the quarterfinals, worked flawlessly for the majority of the day.

Ruud would position far behind the baseline to return, then try to control exchanges from there in order to lessen the impact of Khachanov's serves. For side-to-side defence, Ruud had faultless footwork. He also recognised opportunities to deliver deep groundstrokes that could score.

He occasionally displayed brilliance, as evidenced by the over-the-shoulder volley winner that gave him a 6-3 tiebreaker lead. On Ruud's third chance to end the set, the decisive point of the game was scored shortly after. It culminated in a down-the-line backhand by Ruud that drew a netted forehand in return and lasted 75 seconds longer than the second-longest rally of these entire two weeks.

Papa grinned. His child extended his right hand's two fingers while raising both arms. It might have only been the index finger to represent No. 1, which might soon appear next to his name.

Knowing how crucial that point is, "we both just refused to do a mistake," Ruud added. The legs were virtually shaking as the race came to a close, and the pulse was becoming very high.

Though he hated to lose it, Khachanov couldn't think of a 55-shot rally in his career. Despite this, he was originally inspired by his performance at the end of the set.

I was kind of excited that we had this extended rally and that we were both moving, he said. I thought, "OK, losing a set with this point is horrible. On the other side, I thought, "OK, now that we're moving along really well, let's keep going.

In the second set, Ruud broke to take the lead 2-1 and was nearly there. Ruud broke to lead 2-1 in the fourth, smashing a down-the-line forehand winner from the doubles lane. Khachanov surged late in the third to add a little intrigue.

This is Ruud's most recent stride on a serious upward trajectory in Grand Slam play.

He had a record of just 14-13 at the sport's major competitions going into this year. He had also gone 3-4 in New York, where his best performance there had been a third-round showing in 2020. He then had to miss the Australian Open in January after twisting his ankle in practise the day before the competition started.

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