After handling the most important two weeks of his career with impressive ruthlessness and confidence, Jack Draper entered Arthur Ashe Stadium for the biggest game of his career, knowing full well that this challenge would require him to take both his game and his physicality to new levels to compete with the best player in the men’s game, Jannik Sinner.

Although he fought with all his might, Draper was unable to show his best qualities as he physically struggled in the humidity and vomited several times. In one of the most turbulent matches of the tournament, Sinner, who himself suffered a wrist injury, beat Draper 7-5, 7-6(3), 6-2 in a three-hour, three-minute psychological drama to reach the US Open final for the first time in his career. He will play against American Taylor Fritz, who beat fellow countryman Frances Tiafoe in five sets in Friday’s other semi-final.

With his 54th victory of this great season, Sinner becomes the first Italian in history to reach the US Open singles final. After winning 34 of his 36 matches on hard court this year, the Australian Open champion will look to crown his season by winning his second Grand Slam tournament of the year.

The last few weeks have been a remarkable period in Sinner’s career. A week before the start of the US Open, the Italian revealed that he had tested positive for the banned substance clostebol twice in April, before an independent court ruled last month that Sinner was neither at fault nor negligent for the presence of the banned substance in his body due to contamination.

Both players played their first service games confidently and early in the match they were evenly matched in the various long, physical exchanges from the baseline. The difference between them was Draper’s serve. In a tough opening game at 5-5 he made three double faults, including one on a break point, to concede the decisive break of the set.

At the start of the second set, the match descended into chaos as it became clear that Draper was struggling. He was sweating profusely, sending several rackets off the court to change grips, and then changing his soaked shoes because they had become too “dangerous” to keep up. From the middle of the second set, Draper was vomiting on the court several times and his mobility gradually decreased. Although he was struggling, Draper still managed to find strong serves and excellent shots to hold his serve and eventually force a tiebreak.

“I wasn’t feeling so good in the second set and I still made it to the tiebreak,” Draper said. “I fought hard. I’m proud of myself. I tried to fight as hard as I could. I’m just not going to be able to do it against someone like that.”

With the score at 4-4, 40-15 on Draper’s serve, Sinner scored one of the best points of the entire tournament. His brilliant defensive performance ended with him fending off a big smash from Draper and replying with a huge forehand winner. But Sinner slipped during the point and injured his wrist. After Draper held his serve, he took a medical timeout while the Briton was also treated by the doctor. “The physio loosened it up very quickly on court, so I felt quite good at first. Then it eased off when I was playing, which is good,” Sinner said. “We’ll see how it is tomorrow when it’s cold.”

Both players were struggling physically, with Draper looking ailing while Sinner avoided backhands. But Sinner recovered and finished the second set in a dominant tiebreak. With Sinner leading by two sets and Draper practically down, the third set was a mere formality as the world number one finished the match and reached his second Grand Slam final.

Although Sinner is only four months older than Draper, the two began the match with a vast difference in experience. Almost every aspect of this semifinal run was new territory for Draper, who had only reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam once before in his career, while Sinner spent the last three years in the top 20 and is already the fourth active player to reach the semifinals of all four Grand Slam tournaments. Draper believes his physical problems stem from his inexperience.

“I think this is obviously a big moment for me,” Draper said. “Even though I’m generally feeling pretty relaxed and stuff, today I was definitely more excited and nervous. I’m definitely a pretty nervous person. Put all that together and I feel a little bit sick on the court sometimes and when things get tough I feel a little bit nauseous as well.”

Draper believes that some of the physical problems he has suffered in recent years are due to the nervousness he sometimes feels before games and which stems from his determination.

“I think I have a pretty strong mentality and often use a lot of mental energy because I want it so bad,” he said. “But of course, a lot of times that doesn’t necessarily help, especially in those five-set matches, and that kind of anxiety and those feelings can build up. So it’s definitely something that’s a real strength of mine, but also a weakness, and I need to keep working on it.”

Draper’s physical problems have defined his career so far. He has worked extremely hard and made great progress to get to the point where he is robust enough to play week in week out on the ATP Tour and make that great breakthrough in New York. But as he left the stadium, he knew he still has more work to do.

“I think I just have to keep learning, keep growing, keep going through situations like today where I’m stuck and wondering how I can do it differently next time and all those things,” Draper said. “That’s the most important thing. I think it’s honestly just a matter of time. It’s about experience, doing everything right, training consistently, and over time you just progress and get stronger and better.”