American Taylor Fritz reached his first Grand Slam semifinal at the US Open on Tuesday, overcoming fourth seed Alexander Zverev in a tough match with scores of 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(3).
Previously, Fritz had been 0-4 in major quarterfinals, but he finally broke through against a strong opponent, giving the US its second semifinalist of the day. “I feel amazing,” Fritz said on court after the match. “I’ve had a lot of chances in quarterfinals over the past couple of years, but today felt different. I really felt like it was my time to take it a step further, and it was fitting to do it at the Open in front of this crowd.”
No American man has won a Grand Slam singles title since Andy Roddick’s win at the US Open in 2003. Roddick is also the last American man to reach a major singles final, which he did at Wimbledon in 2009.
This is the third consecutive year that an American man has reached his first Grand Slam semifinal at the US Open. Frances Tiafoe achieved this in 2022, and Ben Shelton made a surprising run last year.
Fritz will face either Tiafoe or Bulgarian veteran Grigor Dimitrov in the semifinals later this week.
Both players entered the match with Zverev leading their head-to-head series 5-4. Fritz had won their most recent encounter, knocking Zverev out of Wimbledon in the round of 16 earlier this year.
After the match, Zverev expressed frustration but acknowledged Fritz’s performance. “Fritz absolutely deserved to win today. I’m not taking anything away from him. He played a really good match. I did nothing to deserve to win.”
The match featured powerful serves from both players, with Zverev remarkably accurate in the first set—37 of his 43 serves landed in. Fritz won an impressive 86% of his first serve points. Fritz had a chance to win the first set but Zverev fought back from a 0-40 deficit to force a tiebreaker, which Fritz won to the delight of the crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The match was marked by a mix of short points with powerful serves and long rallies from the baseline. In the second set, Zverev hit a spectacular “banana” shot that curved around the net post to end a 24-shot rally.
Zverev broke serve for the first time in the eighth game of the second set and managed to level the match. Fritz struggled with unforced errors but intensified his play at the start of the third set, earning his first break of the match in the second game. Zverev broke back three games later to even the score again.
The third set seemed destined for another tiebreak, but Zverev faltered at a critical moment. A series of errors in the 10th game gave Fritz three set points. Zverev saved the first four, but Fritz converted on the fifth attempt to take the lead.
As the match approached four hours, both players continued to serve at over 125 mph, trying to wear each other down. Another tiebreak was required to determine the winner. Fritz gained an early advantage with a mini-break and won a lengthy rally to extend his lead. Despite Zverev’s efforts, he hit a forehand wide on match point, allowing Fritz to advance to his first Grand Slam semifinal.
