US Open: Tiafoe qualifies for All-American SF tournament after Dimitrov withdraws, will face Fritz

NEW YORK (AP) — Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz won an all-American semifinal at the U.S. Open on Tuesday, ensuring the United States has a man in the title match at the country's Grand Slam tournament for the first time in 18 years.

Seeded No. 20, Tiafoe reached the semifinals at Flushing Meadows for the second time in three years when his quarterfinal opponent, Grigor Dimitrov, stopped playing due to injury in the fourth set. Tiafoe led 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 4-1 as midnight approached when Dimitrov retired, providing a disappointing end to a match that wasn't necessarily of the highest quality.

“This is not the way I want to go out,” Tiafoe said, “but obviously I'm happy I got out of it. Another semi-final here. Unbelievable.”

A look at the uneven play of the two players: Dimitrov saved three set points in the tiebreak at 6-3. On the first, he double-faulted. On the second, he double-faulted again. On the third, Tiafoe double-faulted, giving up the set.

A few hours earlier, Fritz had progressed in a much more satisfying way, watching a last errant forehand from his higher-ranked and more accomplished opponent land wide. Fritz dropped his neon-colored racket, clenched both fists and shouted, “Come on!”

He pulled himself together and gathered his gear, walked to the net to hug No. 4 Alexander Zverev, a two-time Grand Slam finalist, then walked to the center of Arthur Ashe Stadium, spread his arms and shouted again: Go!

After years of climbing the rankings, becoming the top American in tennis, coming close to breaking into one of the four biggest events in his sport, Fritz finally managed to prevail on home soil, beating Zverev 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3) to reach a major semifinal for the first time.

Fritz, the 12th seed and 26-year-old from California, entered the day with a 0-4 record in Grand Slam quarterfinals.

On Friday, he will face longtime friend Tiafoe, a 26-year-old from Maryland who lost to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals of the 2022 U.S. Open.

As pros, Fritz holds a 6-1 advantage over Tiafoe.

“This is the biggest match of my life and Taylor's life. We've known each other for a long time. I've been playing him for (under-14 tournaments),” Tiafoe said in an on-court interview. “So to be able to play him here … it's going to be awesome. I know we're both Americans, but I hope you'll all be with me on Friday.”

The Fritz-Tiafoe Showdown It could be crazy, Fritz said, before he knew who he would face next, the first semi-final between two Americans at a major tournament since 2005, when Andre Agassi beat Robby Ginepri in New York.

No American has won a Grand Slam singles trophy since Andy Roddick's US Open triumph in 2003; Roddick was the last American man to reach the US Open final, losing to Roger Federer in 2006.

Dimitrov, the No. 9 seed, had played five sets in the fourth round and appeared to be running out of steam late in the third set against Tiafoe, grabbing his left thigh, walking gingerly between points and hitting his serves much slower than he had earlier in the night. Dimitrov was visited by a trainer after that set and then headed to the locker room for treatment.

He returned to the court for the start of the fourth set but was unable to move properly and eventually retired. Dimitrov, a 33-year-old Bulgarian who has appeared in three major tournament semifinals, would not say afterward what exactly went wrong, only that it was a combination of things.

“It's a disappointing moment for me,” Dimitrov said. “I have to reevaluate some things.”

The other men's quarterfinals will be played on Wednesday: No. 1 Jannik Sinner against No. 5 Daniil Medvedev, and No. 10 Alex de Minaur against No. 25 Jack Draper.

In the women's competition, No. 13 Emma Navarro of the United States reached her first Grand Slam semifinal by winning the last six games in a 6-2, 7-5 victory over No. 26 Paula Badosa and will next face No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka.

Fritz used his usual mix of big serves, winning 20 of 21 points when his first serves landed in the fourth set, and big forehands, but he was also effective at the net, winning 16 of 24 points when he advanced and returned well enough to rack up 10 break points.

Although Fritz converted only two of those break chances, it meant he was constantly putting pressure on Zverev, a German who reached the final of the US Open in 2020 and the French Open this year.

Fritz lost his last quarter-final in July at Wimbledon to Lorenzo Musetti. His other three defeats? Two to 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic and the third to 22-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal.

Last year it was at the US Open against Djokovic, who went on to win the title. Djokovic was eliminated this time in the third round last week; Nadal did not participate in the tournament.

Fritz's coach Michael Russell said those past missteps weren't a topic of conversation heading into this quarterfinal.

“It’s cool to be in the semifinals. But I think the work is not done,” Fritz said. “I was asked the question every time I lost in the quarterfinals: ‘What do I need to do to go further?’ And the answer I always gave was: ‘Keep putting myself in these situations, I’ll feel more comfortable in them and I’ll get better.’ That’s really what happened now. The quarterfinals didn’t feel like, I don’t know, as big an event as it has been, I guess, in the past.”

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AP Tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

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