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Frances Tiafoe blamed his painful five-set US Open semi-final defeat to Taylor Fritz on cramps that set in after his body gave out.

Tiafoe led twice in the match, but the final set lasted only 27 minutes, during which he was broken three times and won only nine points.

“I was definitely the better player tonight. In the fourth set I just had some cramps. I felt like my body was giving out,” said the 20th Tiafoe after his 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 defeat.

While Fritz celebrated becoming the first American to reach a Grand Slam final since Andy Roddick in 2009, Tiafoe was bummed after his second US Open semifinal loss in his last three appearances.

In 2022, he again lost in five sets to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz.

“It probably had a lot to do with nerves. I wasn’t tired at all,” Tiafoe said.

“The closest I came was of course when I played Alcaraz. I was hanging on to my life a bit to go five. Here I was really in a position to win. I got ahead of myself and I promise it won’t happen to me again.”

Meanwhile, world number 12 Fritz will face top-ranked Jannik Sinner in the final on Sunday. He has never reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam before.

He is aiming to become the first American to win a Grand Slam singles title since Roddick at the 2003 US Open.

“It was a crazy match. It was all about handling the moment and the pressure,” Fritz said.

“He played at such a high level in the third and fourth sets. It was about staying in it, resisting the pressure and hoping that at some point the mistakes would come. Eventually it did.”

This year’s US Open was wide open after four-time champion Novak Djokovic and Alcaraz crashed out in the first week.

Fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev also failed to reach the semi-finals.

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