All-American: Fritz, Tiafoe will meet in US Open semis

Two U.S. men will square off in the semifinals of the U.S. Open after No. 12 seed Taylor Fritz and No. 20 Frances Tiafoe won their quarterfinal matches on Tuesday in New York. As a result, a home-country player will compete in the final of the year’s last major for the first time since Andy Roddick was the runner-up in 2006. No U.S. player has won a Grand Slam title since Roddick captured the 2003 U.S. Open championship.

Fritz punched his ticket to his first Grand Slam semifinal by toppling No. 4 Alexander Zverev of Germany 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3). Tiafoe advanced when No. 9 Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria retired due to an apparent leg injury while trailing 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 4-1. Fritz, a 26-year-old from California, had advanced to four Grand Slam quarterfinals since 2022 and never pushed into the next round before Tuesday’s triumph in front of an American crowd that was behind him all the way.

“I feel amazing. I’ve had a lot of looks at quarterfinals over the past couple of years, but today felt different,” Fritz said in the on-court interview. “It felt like it was my time to take it a step further, and it’s only fitting that I’m doing it in front of this crowd.” Zverev gave Fritz a tough test. The German had more winners (52 to 42), fewer unforced errors (42 to 48) and more aces (14 to 12). He also saved a whopping 11 of 13 break points.

But Fritz overcame that by controlling the first- and fourth-set tiebreakers. The players held serve throughout both sets; Zverev saved triple set point in the 12th game of the first set and went on to tie it 6-6.

Fritz fell behind 2-1 in the first-set tiebreaker before rattling off six straight points to win the set. After Zverev won the first break point of the match late in the second set, Fritz took the third set, even as Zverev saved another four set points in the final game. Fritz sped out to a 4-1 lead in the fourth-set tiebreaker and never looked back. He said in his on-court interview that he has valued becoming more than just a player with a big serve.

“I’ve worked on adding so much to my game,” Fritz said. “I feel like my forehand and backhand have kind of always been there, but I’m trying to come to the net a little bit, trying to mix in some drop shots, just trying to add stuff to my game so I can back up my serve in better.” Tiafoe, a 26-year-old Maryland native, made it to the semifinals in New York in 2022 and reached the quarterfinals last year. He is back in the final four after saving three of the four break points he faced against Dimitrov while converting six of his 14 break chances.

“Obviously, it’s not the way I want to get through. But obviously happy to get through,” Tiafoe said. “Another semifinal here. Incredible. …
“It was a really, really high-level match. … But obviously, 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 compete in the first all-American U.S. Open semifinal since Andre Agassi defeated Robby Ginepri in 2005.

Speaking to the crowd, Tiafoe said, “Ultimately, you guys get to see me again, against another American, so Friday is going to be one hell of a day.” Dimitrov came up short in a bid to reach his fourth career Grand Slam semifinal and second at the U.S. Open (2019).