NEW YORK, 7 Sep: When Taylor Fritz, a 26-year-old from California, and Frances Tiafoe, a 26-year-old from Maryland, strode under the Arthur Ashe Stadium lights Friday night for the first U.S. Open semifinal matching two American men in 19 years, the crowd might have been forgiven for not knowing which to support.
\nThere was a burst of clapping right before the initial point, a curtain-raiser befitting the show about to unfold. Once the contest got going, maybe the momentum shifts made it tough to choose between a pair of close pals who\u2019ve known each other since they were playing tournaments for kids younger than 14.
\nIn the end, the roars were for Fritz, who surged with a six-game run against a fading Tiafoe to come out on top 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 and reach his first Grand Slam final.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s the reason why I do what I do,\u201d Fritz told the fans, his voice cracking during a post-match interview. \u201cIt\u2019s the reason why I work so hard.\u201d
\nThe No. 12-seeded Fritz\u2019s seventh victory in eight professional meetings against No. 20 Tiafoe earned a showdown against No. 1 Jannik Sinner for the championship on Sunday.
\n\u201cHe was overwhelming from the baseline so much … and I just tried to tell myself to stay in it and fight,\u201d said Fritz, who was two games from losing in the fourth set. \u201cI told myself that if I didn\u2019t give it absolutely everything I had \u2014 to just stick with it and see if his level might drop a little bit \u2014 then I was going to regret it for a long time.\u201d
\nHe will be the first U.S. man to appear in a major final since Andy Roddick lost to Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2009 \u2014 and the first in New York since Roddick lost to Federer there in 2006. If he can get past Sinner, Fritz would become the first American man to win any Slam trophy since Roddick got his 21 years ago at the U.S. Open.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a dream come true. I\u2019m in the final. So I\u2019m going to come out and give everything I can possibly give,\u201d Fritz said. \u201cI can\u2019t wait.\u201d
\nFrom 4-all in the fourth set, he seized control. Tiafoe\u2019s mind and legs betrayed him, as he cramped up, at least in part, because of what he said were nerves related to thinking the finish line was near and he was headed to play for the title.
\n\u201cI felt like my body shut down on me,\u201d said Tiafoe, who fell to 7-14 in five-setters. \u201cI got ahead of myself.\u201d
\nAfter his double-fault handed over a break to make it 4-0 in the fifth, more than three hours into the proceedings, Tiafoe chucked his racket. Fritz repaid the favor by double-faulting to end the next game, but broke right back and soon it was over. They met at the net for an embrace.
\n\u201cSometimes,\u201d Tiafoe said, \u201cit\u2019s not meant to be.\u201d
\nSinner, a 23-year-old from Italy exonerated in a doping case less than three weeks ago, finished off a 7-5, 7-6 (3), 6-2 victory over No. 25 Jack Draper on Friday that featured simultaneous treatment of both competitors by trainers deep in the 1 1\/2-hour second set.
\n\u201cIt was a very physical match, as we see,\u201d said Sinner, who won the Australian Open in January. \u201cI just tried to stay there mentally.\u201d
\nHe got his left wrist massaged after falling during a point he managed to win; Draper needed medical attention after vomiting twice in a game with the temperature in the high 70s and the humidity above 60%. During that break in the action, a vacuum was used to clear the ground behind the baseline and finish the cleaning job Draper, a 22-year-old from Britain, tried to do himself by wiping his, um, mess with a towel.
\nThere was none of that sort of drama away from the actual play in Tiafoe vs. Fritz.
\n\u201cUltimately,\u201d Tiafoe said, \u201cit was a great night, to have two Americans battling.\u201d
\nThe respective guest boxes seemed to reflect the players\u2019 contrasting personalities. The excitable Tiafoe would mark a key moment by shaking a raised fist or gritting his teeth or wagging his racket or nodding while strutting to the sideline, and his entourage \u2014 including coach David Witt, who worked with Venus Williams for many years, as well as Jessica Pegula, the American in the U.S. Open women\u2019s final Saturday against Aryna Sabalenka \u2014 stood and got noisy, point after point after point.
\nThe group in the more mild-mannered Fritz\u2019s corner was more selective in its celebrations.
\nFritz had never been past the quarterfinals at one of his sport\u2019s four most prestigious events until now, but this journey included wins over a trio of guys with a combined six Slam runner-up showings: Casper Ruud, Alexander Zverev and Matteo Berrettini.
\nFritz started well Friday, smacking serves at up to 135 mph, before Tiafoe gathered himself and grabbed five games in a row. In the next set, Fritz was pretty much perfect, winning 24 of 25 service points and going 8 for 8 at the net. Tiafoe regrouped quickly, breaking to begin the third, which turned out to be enough for that set, because he never allowed Fritz so much as one break chance.
\nTiafoe appeared to lose steam after losing one particular 31-stroke point \u2014 the longest of the match, he called it \u201cdefinitely an intense rally\u201d \u2014 midway through the fourth, then gave away that set\u2019s last game by double-faulting twice and netting a drop shot.
\n\u201cThis one\u2019s going to hurt really, really bad,\u201d Tiafoe said. (AP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW YORK, 7 Sep: When Taylor Fritz, a 26-year-old from California, and Frances Tiafoe, a 26-year-old from Maryland, strode under the Arthur Ashe Stadium lights Friday night for the first U.S. Open semifinal matching two American men in 19 years, the crowd might have been forgiven for not knowing which to support. There was a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-248040","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248040\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}