(Photo credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images)

Three months after breaking through for his first career major title, Alexander Zverev is two wins away from getting his second, and he's joining some pretty elite company along the way.

The top-seeded German blew past Botic van de Zandschulp and into the U.S. Open semifinals Wednesday night with a 6-2, 7-5, 6-1 victory in New York.

'Happy to be in the semifinals,' Zverev said. 'Different kind of match than two days ago, but still happy to win in straight sets and to move on.'

Zverev will next face Russian Karen Khachanov on Friday. It will be the 29-year-old Zverev's third career U.S. Open semifinal and first since he went there in back-to-back years in 2020 & '21, advancing to the final in 2020.

'The more often that you get to that stage, the more normal it becomes, which is something that you should never take for granted,' Zverev said. 'I think it's a very special feeling when it becomes a normal thing. I don't take it for granted at all. ... I'm happy with how things are going, but looking forward, I still hope to play two good matches in New York.'

The victory over van de Zandschulp was significant for a couple other reasons, as well.

Zverev is now the ninth different player in the Open era to make the semifinals of all four majors in a single season on the men's side. The victory Wednesday was also his 23rd match win in a major this season, surpassing Boris Becker for the most in one season by a German man. And his 13 major semifinal appearances are second among active men's players, behind Novak Djokovic's 55.

After trading service games with the unseeded van de Zandschulp through the first games, the world No. 2 turned the match into a laugher with back-to-back service breaks while holding serve throughout the first set. The second set was the one close battle of the night, with both players holding serve until Zverev broke van de Zandschulp for a 6-5 lead then held serve to avoid a tiebreaker.

Zverev broke van de Zandschulp, ranked No. 70 in the world, three straight times to win the third set with ease.

Khachanov advanced to his first Grand Slam semifinal since 2023 when No. 28 Belgian Alexander Blockx retired after multiple medical timeouts while trailing 6-2, 7-5, 3-2 in the day's first quarterfinal.

Blockx, who took painkillers due to a rib injury during his fourth-round win against Francisco Cerundolo, was battling upper-body pain during his first career major quarterfinal match.

'I was preparing really well for this matchup and it was not easy, as from one side I felt like I was dominating from the beginning and then I felt he was struggling more and more and it is a mixed feeling,' Khachanov said after the match. 'He is suffering and I don't want to scream, 'Come on', but I wanted to keep the energy there. I wish him a speedy recovery. I saw that he was suffering all over his body.'

Blockx retired after dropping his serve in the third set, sending Khachanov to his third career major semifinal, previously reaching this stage in consecutive Slams at the 2022 U.S. Open and 2023 Australian Open. Khachanov is 3-6 all-time against Zverev.

'Once you are in the semifinals, you are thinking about one step forward,' Khachanov said. 'I will now watch (Zverev) against Botic and prepare for whoever wins and try to do my best as always.'

Khachanov didn't make it past the third round in any of the first three majors this year, entering the U.S. Open with a 16-18 record on the year. He now has upset seeded players in three of the last four rounds, including No. 3 Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in the second round and No. 14 Learner Tien in the Round of 16.

Blockx put up a fight in each of the first two sets, even at 2-2 in the first and 5-5 in the second before Khachanov took control with clutch breaks in each set.

Both players hit on just 55% of their first serves, but Khachanov won 89% of his first-serve points to Blockx's 71% and saved both break-point chances on his serve while converting 4 of 6 on the 21-year-old Belgian's serve.

--Field Level Media