Third seed Daniil Medvedev defeated his fellow Russian countryman and childhood friend Andrey Rublev in straight sets to reach his second straight semi-finals at the US Open in Flushing Meadows on Wednesday.


In a all Russian quarterfinal affair played out at the Arthur Ashe stadium in Flushing Meadows on Wednesday evening,  Medvedev overcame his 10th-seeded opponent in three tight sets with the scoreline reading 7-6 (8/6), 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) in 2hr 27min inside the state of art Arthur Ashe Stadium at the USTA National Tennis Centre.

"I felt like I could get in trouble so I was really happy to get the winner in this tough tie-breaker. "One point decided two sets so it was a really tough match and Andrey was playing unbelievable actually," Medvedev added.

Rublev got off to a stellar start in the opening set, racing to a 5-1 lead before Medvedev, last year's US Open runner-up, staged a brilliant comeback to seal it 8-6 with an ace.

"In these moments you feel like you have to fight for every point, but you're also thinking, 'Okay, I have probably lost this set,'" said Medvedev.

Big-hitting Medvedev dominated the battle of the aggressive base liners by hitting 16 aces and won 89 percent of first-serve points against his Russian compatriot. Medvedev and Rublev, 22, have known each other since competing in under-ten tournaments in Russia.

The 24-year-old Russian set up a mouthwatering semifinal clash with second seed Dominic Thiem who beat Australia's Alex de Minaur to book a place in the last four on Friday. Theim also became the first Austrian to reach the last four at the US Open.

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"I had a great feeling from the first moment on," said Thiem, who will now face 2019 US Open finalist Daniil Medvedev for a place in the summit clash.

"There is no Roger, Rafa, Novak, but there is Daniil, Sascha and Pablo now," he said. "There are three other amazing players. Every single one of us deserves this first major title. Everybody will give it all. Once we step on the court, those other three are forgotten anyway," he added.

In the other men's singles semifinal, fifth seed German Alexander Zverev will take on Spain's 20th seed Pablo Carreno Busta in the battle of the baseliners.