At the U.S. Open, two Americans will meet in the semifinals after 12th-seeded Taylor Fritz and 20th-seeded Francis Tiafoe won their quarterfinal matches on Tuesday in New York.
As a result, a player from the country will play in the final of the year’s final major tournament for the first time since Andy Roddick, who was runner-up in 2006. An American player has not won a Grand Slam title since Roddick won the U.S. Open in 2003.
Fritz reached his first Grand Slam semifinal by defeating No. 4 Alexander Zverev of Germany 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3).
Tiafoe advanced after ninth seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, who was leading 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 4-1, withdrew with a leg injury.
Fritz, 26, from California, had reached four Grand Slam quarterfinals since 2022 but had never advanced to the next round until Tuesday’s win in front of an American crowd that had been rooting for him all along.
“It feels great. I’ve had a lot of chances to get to the quarterfinals the last few years, but today felt different,” Fritz said in an on-court interview. “It just felt like it was time to take a step forward, and it’s only fitting to do it in front of this crowd.”
Zverev gave Fritz a tough test, as the German hit more winners (52-42), fewer unforced errors (42-48), more aces (14-12) and saved 11 of 13 break points.
But Fritz overcame that by winning the first and fourth set tiebreaks. Both players held serve throughout both sets, with Zverev saving triple set points in the 12th game of the first set to tie the score at 6-6.
Fritz trailed 2-1 in the first-set tiebreak but then reeled off six straight points to take the set, then Zverev earned his first break point of the match late in the second set and saved four more set points in the deciding game before Fritz took the third set.
Fritz took a 4-1 lead in the fourth-set tiebreaker and never looked back.
In an on-court interview, he said it’s important to him to be more than just a player with a strong serve.
“I’ve been working on adding a lot of elements to my game,” Fritz said. “I feel like my forehand and backhand have always been there, but I’m trying to get a little closer to the net, mix in some drop shots, add some elements to my game and be able to back up my serve a lot better.”
The 26-year-old Maryland native reached the semifinals in New York in 2022 and the quarterfinals last year. Tiafoe saved three of four break points and converted six of 14 break chances against Dimitrov en route to a return to the semifinals.
“Obviously, this is not how you want to go, but I’m happy that we did,” Tiafoe said. “I’m in the semifinals again. It’s unbelievable.”
“It was a really, really high-level match. … But of course, I didn’t want it to end like that.”
Tiafoe won 67 percent of his second-serve points, while Dimitrov won just 37 percent of his second-serve points.
Fritz and Tiafoe will be the first Americans to meet in a U.S. Open semifinal since Andre Agassi defeated Robby Ginepri in 2005.
“Friday is going to be a great day because at the end of the day you all are going to see me again against another American,” Tiafoe told the crowd.
Dimitrov failed to reach a Grand Slam semifinal for the fourth time in his career and the second time at the U.S. Open (2019).
–Field Level Media
