Taylor Fritz advances to first Grand Slam semifinal after defeating Alexander Zverev at US Open

CNN
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American Taylor Fritz reached his first US Open semifinal on Tuesday, defeating fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(3) in a close fight.

Fritz had previously had an 0-4 record in the quarterfinals of major tournaments, but he finally managed to beat a tough opponent to secure the USA’s second semifinal of the day.

“I feel amazing, I’ve had a lot of looks in the quarter-finals over the last few years, today just felt different,” he said on court after the match. “I really felt like it was my time to take it a step further and it was only right to do it at the Open in front of such a crowd.”

It is the third consecutive year that an American has reached his first Grand Slam semifinal at the US Open. Frances Tiafoe achieved the feat in 2022, while Ben Shelton made a surprising run last year.

Hours after Fritz’s victory, Tiafoe advanced to the US Open semifinals after world number 9 Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria withdrew with an injury in the fourth set of the quarterfinals. Tiafoe led 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3, 4-1 over Dimitrov.

Tiafoe and Fritz will play each other on Friday, which guarantees that the American will reach Sunday’s final.

No American has won a Grand Slam singles title since Andy Roddick at the US Open in 2003. Roddick is also the last American to reach the final of a major singles tournament, which came at Wimbledon in 2009.

Two strong players, Fritz and Zverev, entered the match with the German leading the head-to-head series 5-4. Fritz’s last victory before Tuesday was when he knocked the German out of Wimbledon in the round of 16 in a gruelling five-set comeback earlier this year.

After the match, Zverev was frustrated but praised his opponent.

“(Fritz) absolutely deserved to win today. I’m not taking anything away from him. He played a pretty good match. I didn’t do anything to deserve to win.”

Both players are known for their powerful serves and they used this powerful weapon in the first set. Zverev was incredibly accurate in the opening set, with 37 of 43 serves landing in the hole, while Fritz won an incredible 86% percentage of first serve points.

The American had a chance to end the match and was one point away from winning the first set, but Zverev climbed out of a 0-40 hole to force a tie-break.
However, it was Fritz who proved to be better than his rivals, to the delight of the audience gathered at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The match featured short points with overwhelming serves interspersed with long, difficult baseline rallies. At one point in the second set, Zverev hit a spectacular banana shot that curved around the net post, ending a 24-shot rally.

Zverev finally earned his first break of the match in the eighth game of the second set before serving to level the score. Fritz’s winner rate fell below his unforced errors as he struggled to keep up the pace.

Despite the setback, Fritz kept the pressure on early in the third set and eventually earned his first break of the match in the second game after two consecutive errors from his opponent. He looked to press the advantage, but Zverev broke it three games later to get the game back on serve and quell some of Fritz’s intensity.

The set looked set to head into another tie-break, but Zverev lost focus at the wrong time and three serve errors in the 10th game gave Fritz three set points. The German saved all three before an ace saved the fourth, but Fritz converted it into points on the fifth question to take the lead.

The level of both players did not drop even in the fourth hour of the match.
Serve speeds regularly exceeded 125 mph as both players tried to wear each other down.

Ultimately, another tie-break was needed to separate the two teams, with Fritz earning a mini-break on the first point before winning another long rally in style to extend his advantage. Zverev held on but hit a forehand wide for a match point, sending Fritz to the last four at a Grand Slam for the first time in his career.