The men’s semi-finals have ended at the US Open. In the first match, Jannik Sinner defeated Jack Draper. In the second match, two Americans fought for a ticket to the final round: Taylor Fritz (12) and Frances Tiafoe (20).
For Fritz, this semi-final was his debut at a Grand Slam tournament. Tiafoe had already reached this stage in New York two years ago, coming one step away from the final after being defeated by Carlos Alcaraz (7-6, 3-6, 1-6, 7-6, 3-6). This time at the US Open, Francisco beat Alexander Kovacevich, Alexander Shevchenko, Ben Shelton, Alexey Popyrin and Grigor Dimitrov. Taylor defeated Camilo Hugo Carabella, Matteo Berrettini, Francisco Comesaña, Casper Ruud and Alexander Zverev.
For Fritz and Tiafoe, this meeting was the eighth before, the score in their clash being 6-1 in favor of Taylor; the last time Francisco defeated his compatriot was in 2016.
Francisco Tiafoe
Photo: Al Bello/Getty Images
Fritz was the first to take the lead in this semi-final match; he took the opponent’s first serve and led with a score of 3:0, but immediately after that he lost five games in a row. Taylor tried to get back into the game in different ways: he hit the serve and volley, kept the ball on his back, waiting for the opponent’s inaccuracies, but, unfortunately, he himself made mistakes. In every match there was a fight. No mini-game at the end of the first set ended with a score of 40:0. Fritz had problems, but Tiafoe turned out to be more precise and stable. The opening match with a score of 6:4 went to Francis.
The scenario for the second set was a little different. Both players started to feel more confident on their serve, so almost all games were closed to love. The first break points appeared when the score was 4:5 on Tiafoe’s serve. Fritz played very well from defense, reached a set point, but could not close the match immediately and postponed the matter for later.
Everything went well for Fritz in 12-13 matches. He played aggressively, did not let Tiafoe breathe, brought his serve to zero and with it the second set (7-5). As for statistics, Taylor played this game better than his opponent: in terms of winners and unforced points he scored 15/3, and Francis – 9/8.
Taylor Fritz
Photo: Al Bello/Getty Images
At the start of the third set, Tiafoe gathered his courage, immediately strained his opponent and, having played surprisingly on the baseline, made an early break. And Francis’ first serve began to come out better and his attacks became more accurate. Fritz began to make unforced errors. In this game he never managed to reach break points, and Tiafoe held on to the score 6:4.
In the fourth set, Fritz reduced the number of inaccuracies, began to get excited and lively, thanks to which he maintained a good level of play as much as possible. The end of this game turned out to be unpredictable. Throughout the set, the tennis players went hand in hand. There was even a feeling that Tiafoe could push at any moment, break and end the match in his favor. At first he felt confident on his serve when the score was 4:5 – he led 40:15 – and then he had mistakes, unforced errors, a couple of doubles and an emotional breakdown. The set was in Taylor’s hands and the game went to a decisive set.
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During the break between games, Tiafoe had no time to recover from a missed serve, which Fritz took advantage of to break early. Then another. With the score 0:3, 30:40, Francis committed another double fault, something that disappointed him greatly at the end of the final set. After that, Tiafoe threw his racket and gave the advantage to Taylor.
Tiafoe also tried to get back into the game. He tried to use attacks that worked so well in previous games. He even made a reverse break, but immediately lost his next serve. Fritz came out to serve for the match at 5:1 and did so without any problems. Unfortunately, Francisco started to make too many unforgivable mistakes. He left the court almost in tears.
Taylor was mentally stronger. From the first match point, in 3 hours 18 minutes and with a final score of 4:6, 7:5, 4:6, 6:4, 6:1, she won this match and reached her first Grand Slam final.
Fritz became the first American in 18 years to reach the US Open final. Previously, Andy Roddick achieved this in the 2006 season. And the last time he won a major on home soil was even earlier, in 2003.
With today’s victory, Fritz has secured his return to seventh place in the ATP rankings. Should he win the decisive match, Taylor will overtake Andrei Rublev and move into sixth place.
In the final, Fritz will face world number one Jannik Sinner. There will be a new champion at the US Open. Follow the developments in New York about the “Championship”.
