Fritz, Tiafoe to Meet In U.S. Open Semifinals
On Sunday, an American man will compete in the U.S. Open finals as Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz get set to battle one another in the semifinals on Friday evening inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The all-American semifinal matchup ensures that one man from the States will be in action on Sunday, marking the first time since Andy Roddick’s 2009 Wimbledon runner-up that the men’s singles final at a major will have an American representative.
“It’s going to be a big one for both of us, playing for a final…it’s going to be interesting, man. We’ll see what happens,” Tiafoe said of the matchup.
Tiafoe defeated ninth-seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3, 4-1 (ret.) in his quarterfinal matchup, while Fritz made his way into the first major semifinal of his career with a 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(3) victory over fourth-seed and former finalist Alexander Zverev.
While both players are excited to be in the semifinals, they are taking the approach that there is still work to be done.
“It’s cool I’m in the semis. But I very much have the mindset of the job’s not done, and I keep taking it one match at a time like I’ve been all tournament, and focus on the next match ahead of me,” Fritz said.
With all that said, Friday night’s clash in Arthur Ashe Stadium will be the most significant match in American men’s tennis in quite some time. It’s the first Grand Slam semifinal between two American men since Andre Agassi defeated Robby Ginepri at the 2005 U.S. Open.
As we’ve seen throughout the entire tournament with the record crowds, the impact of the success of American players can help continue to grow the sport here, something that is not lost on Tiafoe.
“It’s great, and then from a big picture standpoint, I’ve got so many people that would never watch tennis a day in their life coming to matches because I’m playing,” said Tiafoe. “You now, you’ve seen so many cool people come out to watch, and just normal people that would just never really watch tennis and now are fans of it because I’m playing it. It means a lot, and it’s helping the game. I genuinely think when I’m playing well it helps the sport for sure.”
The winner of Tiafoe and Fritz will face the winner of top-seed Jannik Sinner and 25th seed Jack Draper of Great Britain.
Fritz has won six of the seven matches against Tiafoe.
“It’s different on Ashe, man,” Tiafoe said. “It’s different. “He’s tough, man, He’s a tough player. He plays great from both sides, has a great serve, he’s moving much better now. It’s going to be tough.”
