CNN
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American Taylor Fritz reached his first Grand Slam semifinal at the US Open on Tuesday, defeating fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev in a hard-fought battle 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(3).
Fritz had previously had a 0-4 record in important quarterfinals, but was finally able to prevail against a strong opponent and give the USA its second semifinalist of the day.
“I feel great. I’ve often gotten attention in the quarterfinals over the last few years, but today was just different,” he said on court after the match. “I really felt like it was time to take a step forward and it was only fitting to do it at the Open in front of this crowd.”
No American has won a Grand Slam singles title since Andy Roddick at the 2003 US Open. Roddick is also the last American to reach a major singles final at Wimbledon in 2009.
It is the third year in a row that an American has reached his first Grand Slam semifinal at the US Open. Frances Tiafoe achieved this feat in 2022, while Ben Shelton was surprisingly successful last year.
Fritz will face either Tiafoe or Bulgarian veteran Grigor Dimitrov in the semifinals later this week.
The two heavyweights entered the match with Zverev leading 5-4 in the head-to-head match. Fritz’s most recent victory came before Tuesday, when he knocked the German out of the Wimbledon round of 16 in a grueling five-set comeback earlier this year.
After the match, Zverev appeared frustrated but complimented his opponent.
“(Fritz) absolutely deserved the win today. I don’t want to take anything away from him. He played a pretty good game. I didn’t do anything to deserve the win.”
Both players are known for their strong serves and used this powerful weapon in the first set. Zverev was remarkably accurate in the first set, landing 37 of his 43 serves, while Fritz won an incredible 86% of his points on his first serve.
The American had the chance to decide the matter and missed winning the first set by one point, but Zverev fought his way out of a 0-40 hole and sent the whole thing into a tiebreak.
However, it was Fritz who got the upper hand on the breaker, thrilling the crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The match was characterised by short points of overwhelming serves, interspersed with long, laborious rallies from the baseline. At one point in the second set, Zverev pulled off a spectacular “banana shot” that flew around the net post and ended a 24-stroke rally.
Zverev finally broke the match in the eighth game of the second set before serving to level the match. Fritz’s winner count fell below his unforced errors as he struggled to keep up.
Despite the setback, Fritz turned up the pressure at the start of the third set and finally made his first break of the match in the second game after two consecutive errors from his opponent. He tried to extend his advantage, but Zverev broke three games later to regain control and dampen the intensity Fritz had been playing with.
The set seemed to be heading for another tiebreak, but Zverev’s concentration lapsed at the wrong moment and three errors on serve in the 10th game gave Fritz three set points. The German saved all three before an ace prevented a fourth, but Fritz converted on the fifth attempt to take the lead.
Even in the fourth hour of play, the level of both players did not drop.
Serves regularly exceeded 200 km/h as the pair attempted to wear each other down.
In the end, another tiebreak was needed to separate the two. Fritz took the first point to take the mini-break before winning another long rally in style to extend his lead. Zverev stayed in the match but missed a forehand on match point to send Fritz into the last four of a major for the first time in his career.
