Taylor Fritz earned a ticket to his first Grand Slam title match with a 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 win over fellow American Frances Tiafoe on Friday. He is now the first American man to reach a major final since Andy Roddick at Wimbledon in 2009.
“It’s the reason why I do what I do. It’s the reason why I work so hard,” Fritz said. “I’m in the final of the US Open.”
Fritz arrived to Flushing Meadows as the highest-seeded American at No. 12. He had never made it past the quarterfinals at a major before this tournament, but now he is on the verge of history. He is now just one more win away from becoming the first U.S. man to win a Grand Slam since Roddick in 2003 in this very tournament.
Fritz had the momentum early on Friday and quickly found a 3-0 lead. It looked like this could be a very one-sided match, but Tiafoe started finding his rhythm and the tables turned as he scored a pair of breaks to take the set 6-4.
Fritz started to move better and made the second a lot tougher. Tiafoe was so locked in he even ended up falling into the photographers’ box while trying to avoid putting himself in a tough position while being down 5-4. His effort was unsuccessful and Fritz got the set point on the break at 7-5.
Tiafoe bounced back and set the tone by winning the first two games of the third set. It wasn’t his best tennis and his serve was not as strong as it was in the second, but he was doing a good job making Fritz run.
“It was really overwhelming,” Fritz said. “I just tried to tell myself to stay in it and fight to just hold my serve and just apply that scoreboard pressure as much as possible. I told myself that if I didn’t give it absolutely everything I have and just stick with it to see if his level might drop a little bit, then I was going to regret it for a long time. I just did everything I could to just stay in it.”
The real turning point happened in the middle of the fourth set when Fritz won 31-shot rally. That look a lot of energy from both players, but Fritz got re-energized while Tiafoe never quite recovered. Fritz took the set on a break once more at 6-4.
In the decisive fifth set, Fritz came out strong as Tiafoe appeared out of gas. Fritz broke Tiafoe twice and jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Tiafoe showed some life and answered back with a break of his own. However, he had fallen too far behind and did not have enough energy for the comeback as Fritz scored the immediate break back and then finished things on serve for the 6-1 set win.
Up next, Fritz will be taking on world No. 1 Jannik Sinner on Sunday. They have only faced each other twice before and split the series 1-1. Both of those meetings were at Indian Wells, so this will be their first encounter at a Grand Slam.
“It’s a dream come true, I’m in the finals,” Fritz said. “I’m going to come out and I’m going to give everything I possibly have. I know that for a fact.”
