By David Ramirez
04 Sep 2024, 01:44 AM EDT
QUEENS, NY – Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe won their quarterfinals at the U.S. Open and will play their first American semifinal since 2005 on Friday.
Earlier on Tuesday at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Fritz defeated Germany’s Alexander Zverev, while Tiafoe defeated Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov just after midnight.
As for head-to-heads, Fritz is 6-1 against Tiafoe.
Tiafoe is now in the US Open semi-finals for the second time in three years after Dimitrov retired in the fourth set with an injury. The No. 20 in the ranking led 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3, 4-1.
Dimitrov, 33, appeared to be in a state of exhaustion for his quarterfinal match, having played his fourth-round match in five sets. Against Tiafoe, he was not as impressive as in his previous encounters and towards the end of the third set he looked weakened and had pain in his right thigh. By the fourth set, the Bulgarian could not keep up his pace and decided to retire.
Friday’s match will be the first Grand Slam semifinal between two Americans since Andre Agassi and Robby Ginepri met at the 2005 US Open.
An American sure to make it to the final
The matchup guarantees that one of the Americans, Fritz or Tiafoe, will contest the final on Sunday, September 8. This has not happened since Andy Roddick faced Roger Federer in the final at the 2006 US Open.
In another historic detail for this US Open 2024, today Wednesday the American Jessica Pegula and the Polish Iga Swiatek face each other in the quarterfinals, which could also result in having a semi-finalist from the United States in women’s singles.
The last Grand Slam tournament to feature multiple American semifinalists in both men’s and women’s singles was the 2003 US Open, which featured Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick and Lindsay Davenport and Jennifer Capriati.