CNN
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American Taylor Fritz reached his first career Grand Slam semifinal at the US Open on Tuesday, defeating fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(3) in a hotly contested battle.

Fritz had previously gone 0-4 in the quarter-finals of major tournaments, but eventually crossed the line against a strong opponent to give the US its second semi-finalist of the day.

“I feel great, I’ve had a lot of chances in the quarterfinals in the last few years, today it just felt different,” he said on court after the match. “I really felt like it was my time to step up and it was fitting to do that at the Open in front of this crowd.”

No American has won a Grand Slam singles title since Andy Roddick at the 2003 US Open. Roddick is also the last American to reach the final of a major singles event, at Wimbledon in 2009.

It is the third year in a row that an American has reached his first Grand Slam semifinal at the US Open. Frances Tiafoe accomplished the feat in 2022, while Ben Shelton made a surprising run last year.

Fritz will face either Tiafoe or Bulgarian veteran Grigor Dimitrov in the semi-finals later this week.

The two heavyweights went into the match with Zverev leading the series 5-4. Fritz had the most recent victory prior to Tuesday, having knocked out the German in the round of 16 at Wimbledon earlier this year in a gruelling five-set comeback.

After the match, Zverev was frustrated but complimented his opponent.

“(Fritz) absolutely deserved to win today. I’m not taking anything away from him. He played a pretty good game. I didn’t do anything to deserve to win.”

Both players are known for their big serves and made use of this powerful weapon in the first set. Zverev was remarkably accurate in the opener, with 37 of his 43 serves landing, while Fritz won an incredible 86% percent of his first serve points.

The American had a chance to decide the match and came within one point of winning the first set, but Zverev fought back from a 0-40 deficit to decide the match in a tiebreak.
It was Fritz who ultimately threw the deciding blow, sending the crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium into raptures.

The match was marked by short points with overwhelming serves interspersed with long, heavy rallies from the baseline. At one point in the second set, Zverev produced a spectacular “banana” shot that curved around the net post to end a 24-shot rally.

Zverev eventually took the first break of the match in the eighth game of the second set, before serving out to level the match. Fritz’s winner tally fell short of his unforced error tally as he struggled to keep up the pace.

Despite the setback, Fritz kept up the pressure early in the third set and eventually earned his first break of the match in the second game after back-to-back errors from his opponent. He tried to press the advantage, but Zverev broke back three games later to regain service and suppress some of the intensity with which Fritz had been playing.

The set seemed destined for another tiebreak, but Zverev’s focus lapsed at the wrong moment and a trio of serve errors in the 10th game gave Fritz three set points. The German saved all three before an ace saved a fourth, but Fritz converted at the fifth time of asking to take the lead.

The level of both players did not drop, even as the match entered the fourth hour.
Serve speeds regularly exceeded the 200 km/h mark as the two tried to wear each other down.

Ultimately, it took another tiebreak to separate the two. Fritz earned the minibreak on the first point before winning another long rally in style to extend his lead. Zverev stayed in it, but hit a forehand wide on match point to send Fritz into the last four of a major for the first time in his career.