(New York) American Taylor Fritz, 12e world number one, qualified for the US Open on Tuesday for his first Grand Slam semi-final by beating German Alexander Zverev (4e) 7-6 (7/2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3).
Aged 26, Fritz had already played four quarter-finals in Majors without going any further (Wimbledon 2022, US Open 2023, Australian Open and Wimbledon 2024).
He will face another American on Friday, Frances Tiafoe (20e) or the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (9e) to try to reach the final.
For his part, Zverev (27 years old) played the semi-finals at the Australian Open and the final at Roland Garros this year.
On Tuesday at Flushing Meadows, Zverev did not have a single break point in the first set, saving four in favor of his opponent, including three consecutive set points at 5-6 and 0/40. He finally forced Fritz to play a tiebreaker.
PHOTO ANDREW KELLY, REUTERS
American Taylor Fritz (right) and German Alexander Zverev after the latter’s defeat.
The American had four extra points at 6/2 and converted the first.
In the second set, the German got his first break point of the match at 4-3 and converted it to lead 5-3 and serve for the set. He equalized with serenity.
Fritz immediately took the lead to lead 3-0 in the third set, but Zverev came back.
As in the first set, Fritz had three set points at 5-4 and 40/0 on Zverev’s serve. And as in the first set, the German equalized. But this time, he gave up the set a few points later on Fritz’s fifth set point.
In the fourth set, both players held on to their serve as best they could until the tiebreaker.
Twice, at 5-4 and 6-5, Zverev served to stay in the match and twice he equalized.
But in the deciding game, Fritz quickly pulled away.