Taylor Fritz worked five sets to outlast Frances Tiafoe in an all-American matchup of good friends in the U.S. Open semifinals on Friday in New York.
Fritz, the 12th seed, won 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 to become the first U.S. man to reach a Grand Slam singles final since Andy Roddick lost in the 2009 Wimbledon championship match.
Top-seeded Jannik Sinner will provide the opposition on Sunday after he reached his first U.S. Open final with a 7-5, 7-6 (3), 6-2 victory over 25th-seeded Jack Draper.
Fritz will be the first U.S. man to play in a U.S. Open final since Roddick was the runner-up in 2006. Roddick’s 2003 U.S. Open championship remains the last Grand Slam title by a U.S. man.
“It’s a dream come true. I’m in the final,” Fritz said in his post-match interview at Arthur Ashe Stadium. “I’m going to come out and give everything I possibly have, and I know that for a fact. I’m going to give it everything I can possibly give it so I can win.”
Fritz, a 26-year-old from California, had never passed a major quarterfinal until this week. Tiafoe, a 26-year-old Maryland native who was seeded 20th, had appeared in just one Grand Slam semifinal, a loss in the 2022 U.S. Open, before this week.
Tiafoe held a 2-1 set lead and was serving at 4-5 when he gave away the third set. He committed back-to-back double faults then consecutive errors to allow Fritz to break and send the match to a fifth set.
Fritz jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the decisive set and closed out the victory.
“He was overwhelming from the baseline so much, taking the ball so early, changing lines so well,” Fritz said. “I just told myself to try to stay in it, fight to hold my serve and apply scoreboard pressure as much as possible.
“I told myself if I didn’t give it absolutely everything I had and stick with it and see if his level might drop a little bit, I would regret it for a long time.”
In the earlier semifinal, Sinner had a 43-29 edge in winners while sweeping his British opponent on a hot and humid afternoon. Draper vomited multiple times during the match.
Sinner, from Italy, had his left wrist examined late in the second set but looked sharp in the third while finishing off the match.
“Me and Jack know each other very well. We are friends off the court,” Sinner said on-court at Arthur Ashe Stadium. “It was a very physical match as we see and I just tried to stay there mentally. He is so tough to beat and it is a very special occasion. I am happy to be in the final here.”
Sinner is looking to become the first Italian man to win the U.S. Open.
He said of going up against his opponent and the home-country crowd on Sunday, “I am looking forward to it. Finals are very special days. Every Sunday you play shows you are doing an amazing job, so I will try to keep pushing and I will see what I can do.”
Draper held 5-4 leads in both the first and second sets, but Sinner rallied both times. He won the final three games of the first set and forced a tiebreaker in the second that he won to take a commanding lead.
Draper was the first Brit to reach the U.S. Open semifinals since Andy Murray won the tournament in 2012. He was hurt by 10 double faults and 43 unforced errors on Friday. Sinner committed two and 34, respectively.
Sinner has been playing under a cloud of controversy. He twice tested positive for a banned substance in March but he wasn’t suspended because the International Tennis Integrity Agency determined he was not at fault.
–Field Level Media
