World number one Jannik Sinner defeated former champion Daniil Medvedev in a thrilling US Open match and faced Jack Draper in the semi-finals.

The Italian Sinner won in New York with 6-2 1-6 6-1 6-4 against the Russian number five.

Sinner, who won the Australian Open in January, and Medvedev were the only two remaining major men’s champions, and the match between them was eagerly anticipated.

Yet both men failed to play their best tennis at the same time.

Medvedev, a defeated finalist at Flushing Meadows last year and in 2019, hit six double faults and committed 57 unforced errors

Although Sinner was not at his most accurate, he was much better on his serve and took the win in two hours and 39 minutes.

Sinner will face his occasional doubles partner Draper in the semi-final on Friday.

“We know each other very well, we’re good friends off the field as well,” Sinner said of Draper.

“It’s going to be really tough. I’m just happy to be in the semi-finals.”

There is now certain to be a first US Open winner in both the men’s and women’s singles, as Americans Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe will reach the second men’s semi-final.

Sinner and Medvedev met at three of the four Grand Slams this year, but this match was not at the level of their previous matches.

Sinner came back from a two-set deficit against Medvedev to win his first Grand Slam title in Melbourne, while Medvedev took revenge in another five-set match at the Wimbledon round of 16 in July.

When Medvedev was called to serve first, he was immediately under pressure, having to save a break point before being broken himself a few games later.

Sinner narrowly missed a step on serve before the second set began, after which he was sucked into the longer rallies that Medvedev loves.

The Russian counterattacked early and doubled his lead after a 10-minute game on Sinner’s serve, which ended with the Italian’s forehand into the net.

With the match evenly matched, the momentum swung in favour of Sinner, who won five games in a row and held three set points on Medvedev’s serve, resulting in a devastating defeat.

Medvedev managed to win another game in the third set and left the court to recover. In his first service game, however, he had to catch up immediately with a 0-30 deficit and a break seemed inevitable.

After Sinner made the decisive break and took a 4-3 lead, his quality came to the fore and secured victory with a stunning forehand winner.

Sinner has lost only two hardcourt matches this season and has won four titles on the surface, including his victory at the Australian Open.

His most recent success came in Cincinnati in August, winning the title a day before it was announced he had been cleared of any wrongdoing after testing positive for a banned substance twice earlier this year.