Taylor Fritz has the American semifinal duel at the US Open won and demands the Top favorite Jannik Sinner for the title. The 26-year-old won in New York against Frances Tiafoe with 4:6, 7:5, 4:6, 6:4, 6:1 and is in a Grand Slam final for the first time in his career.
Fritz has the chance on Sunday to become the first male American tennis player since Andy Roddick to win the US Open again 21 years ago. “That’s why I’m doing this,” Fritz said through tears. “A dream come true. I’ll give everything I can.”
“He overwhelmed me”
At the net, Fritz patted his US colleague on the chest after the match point was converted and tried to cheer Tiafoe up. “He overwhelmed me from the baseline. I just tried to fight,” said Fritz. Tiafoe had already reached his first US Open semifinal against the Spaniard in 2022. Carlos Alcaraz lost in five sets.
After the four-set victory over Alexander Zverev In the quarterfinals, Fritz was quickly ahead again with 3:0. But Tiafoe came back into the game immediately and fired up the crowd after his first break. The fans were more on the side of the more spectacular Tiafoe. When a forehand from Fritz sailed into the stands and Tiafoe won the first set after 45 minutes, many spectators jumped up excitedly.
In the second set, Tiafoe wobbled in the final phase, but did not let that slow him down and won the third set again. Fritz secured one of the key points of the match: with the score at 3:3 in the fourth set, he fought his opponent down, the ball went over the net 31 times, and in the end Tiafoe simply stood there, exhausted.
The 26-year-old could not go on and was 0:4 behind in the deciding set. Fritz was nervous again for a moment, but after 3:18 hours he scored the final point with an ace.
Previously, the world number one Sinner with plenty of drama against the Brit Jack Draper Won 7:5, 7:6 (7:3), 6:2. Sinner fell on his left wrist in the second set and had to be treated. His British opponent vomited several times on the court during the match and spoke afterwards about the fears he has in such big matches.