Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe reach the semi-finals at the US Open. This means that for the first time since 2006, an American will reach the final at the last Grand Slam tournament of the year.
04.09.2024, 06:51
04.09.2024, 07:15
SDA
Fritz again too strong for Zverev
Alexander Zverev's dream of winning his first Grand Slam tournament remains unfulfilled. The Tokyo Olympic champion was defeated in the quarter-finals of the US Open by Taylor Fritz (ATP 12). The number 4 seeded German lost 6:7 (2:7), 6:3, 4:6, 6:7 (3:7) to the American, who was more active and more willing to take risks over long stretches of the match, after a tough struggle. Three months ago, the two had already dueled for three and a half hours in the round of 16 at Wimbledon and Fritz had already prevailed then - albeit in five sets. After numerous unsuccessful attempts, the 26-year-old Californian now made it to a Major semi-final for the first time.
Fritz was ultimately the deserved winner. His strong service was a big plus. When the first serve came, the American won 81 percent of the points. Fritz was only inefficient when it came to break chances: he was only able to capitalize on two of his 13 opportunities.
Tiafoe benefits from Dimitrov's retirement
Fritz will meet his compatriot Frances Tiafoe in the semi-finals. The number 20 in the ATP ranking benefited from the withdrawal of Grigor Dimitrov (ATP 9) due to injury. The Bulgarian had to have treatment on his groin at the end of the third set after a slip and retired shortly afterwards with the score 6:3, 6:7 (7:5), 6:3, 4:1 in favor of Tiafoe. The former world number 3 thus missed out on reaching the last four in New York for the second time since 2019. Back then, Dimitrov had beaten Roger Federer in five sets to reach his third and last Grand Slam semi-final.
Meanwhile, Tiafoe is in the semi-finals of a major tournament for the second time (after the 2022 US Open). He or Fritz will follow Andy Roddick, who was the last American to reach the final in Flushing Meadows in 2006. Three years later, Roddick reached another Grand Slam final at Wimbledon (and lost it dramatically to Federer in the 30th service game of the fifth set).
Sabalenka like Serena Williams once did
The women's quarter-final was a rematch of the 2024 Australian Open final, with Aryna Sabalenka once again coming out on top against China's Zheng Qinwen. The world number two from Belarus easily beat the Olympic champion from Paris 6:1, 6:2. This means that Sabalenka has reached the semi-finals in New York for the fourth year in a row. She is the first woman since Serena Williams (six times in a row from 2011) to achieve this. Sabalenka has only lost once in ten major quarter-finals. Last year at the US Open, she was only beaten in the final by local player Coco Gauff.
