On Tuesday afternoon, fourth-seeded German Alexander Zverev took on 12th-seeded American Taylor Fritz with a spot in the semifinal on the line at the U.S. Open. Behind a phenomenal forehand and strong ground game, Fritz won the match 7–6 (7–2), 3–6, 6–4, 7–6 (7–3). And Fritz’s hopes of becoming the first American to win the U.S. Open in men’s singles since Andy Roddick in 2003 stay alive.
“I feel amazing,” he said after the game. “I’ve had a lot of looks at quarterfinals over the years, but today was different. It’s only fitting that I do it here at the open in front of this crowd.”
The pressure was on Zverev, the second-highest-ranked player remaining in the men’s singles field. Third seed Carlos Alcaraz was upset in the second round, and second seed Novak Djokovic was upset in the third round. First seed Jannik Sinner defeated Tommy Paul in the fourth round on Monday evening.
Fritz, meanwhile, had never been to the semifinal round of a major. The two faced each other in the round of 16 at Wimbledon earlier this summer with Fritz coming back from being down 2–0 to win in five sets.
The match started almost an hour after it was scheduled because of the women’s quarterfinal in which Emma Navarro eliminated Paula Badosa in two sets.
Fritz won the opening set despite having more double-faults (2–1) and going 0-for-4 on break points. He also made only 69 percent of his first serves. Zverev made 86 percent of his first serves in the first set. Fritz was 11–5 in his career at the U.S. Open when winning the first set.
Early in the second set, Zverev made a fabulous shot from just inches off the ground for a winner and held his arms to the sky, getting the crowd inside Arthur Ashe Stadium excited. He was able to break Fritz late in the set and won it 6–3 for the first successful break of the match.
Fritz answered, breaking Zverev’s first service game of the third set. After Fritz sprinted to a 3–0 lead in the third, Zverev won a service game and broke Fritz in the fifth game of the set and came all the way back to tie the set at three. Fritz once again had triple-set point leading 5–4. Zverev stormed back to deuce, but Fritz was able to finish the set after a couple of extended rallies.
Fritz took a 2–1 lead to the fourth set. Coming into the match, Zverev had eliminated three of his previous four U.S. Open opponents in four sets and one in a three-set sweep. Fritz, meanwhile, had dispatched his first three opponents in three sets before needing a fourth set to upset sixth seed Casper Ruud.
Both players held serve six times in the fourth set, so the match went to another tiebreak. Fritz took a 6–3 lead to have three match point opportunities. He only needed one.
Fritz will face the winner of Tuesday night’s match between 2oth-seed American Frances Tiafoe, his good friend, and ninth-seed Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.
