An American will play in the US Open men’s singles final for the first time in nearly two decades after Frances Tiafoe held off Grigor Dimitrov to reach the last four at Flushing Meadows on Tuesday night, setting the stage for an all-American semi-final with Taylor Fritz.
Seizing on a weary opponent and feeding off a rowdy Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd squarely in his corner, Tiafoe ran out to a 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 4-1 lead before Dimitrov retired from their quarter-final with an injury shortly before midnight. Tiafoe advances to the semi-finals for a second time in three years where he will face the 12th-seeded Fritz, a long time friend and Davis Cup teammate, who sprang a 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3) upset of fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev during the daytime session.
Tiafoe, a 26-year-old from Hyattsville, Maryland, had already become the first American man to reach three consecutive US Open quarter-finals since Andy Roddick did it from 2006 through 2008. Now either the 20th seed or Fritz will become first US man to play in the final of America’s national championship since Roddick in 2006.
“Let the best man win come Friday,” Tiafoe said. “It’s going to be epic. Popcorn, do what you got to do. It’s going to be a fun one come Friday.”
Sixteen years after winning the US Open boys’ title, the ninth-seeded Dimitrov was back in the men’s quarter-finals in New York for a second time. But showing obvious signs of fatigue from Sunday’s five-set marathon against Andrey Rublev, the 33-year-old Bulgarian appeared sluggish and mentally adrift throughout the first set.
Dimitrov struggled to get his first serve in – the well-lubricated partisan crowd repeatedly cheered his faults – served from behind in all but the opening service game and generally failed to match his opponent’s intensity and movement amid steady chants of “Let’s go Tia-foe!” between points. The American broke in the fifth and ninth games, won 14 of 21 points on Dimitrov’s second serve and took the opener in 52 straightforward minutes.
Tiafoe picked up in the second where he left off in the first, applying constant pressure on the Bulgarian’s service games, breaking in the fourth game and appearing home free for a commanding two-set lead. But in the seventh game, seemingly from nowhere, Dimitrov pressured Tiafoe on his serve for the first time all night, earning three cracks at a break point before converting the third when Tiafoe dumped a forehand into the net. A tightly wound tiebreaker soon followed, where nerves kicked in on both sides before Dimitrov came through a 72-minute set that curiously ended on three straight double-faults.
By then Dimitrov had rescued his flailing game while Tiafoe’s percentage of first serves in had dipped below 50%. Briefly it felt like anyone’s match. But Tiafoe broke in the fifth game with a sizzling inside-out forehand from the baseline that Dimitrov couldn’t handle. Dimitrov then began moving gingerly between points, having apparently hurt his leg during an extended rally.
Serving at 3-5, Dimitrov opted to play on rather than summon the physio and was promptly broken, double-faulting on set point and sending large clusters of spectators to the concourses. After limping off the court for medical treatment between sets, Dimitrov toiled through four games in obvious pain before flying the white flag after 3hr 4min.
“I’ve always pushed myself and my body to the limit, but there comes times where you just have to make an executive decision, and, yeah, I made it today.” said Dimitrov, the former world No 3 who had to retire with a groin injury during his fourth-round match against Daniil Medvedev at Wimbledon this year. “It’s the second slam in a row that this happened, so what can I say? I think I have enough experience in myself to know where it’s no point to continue any further on that, and I think it’s just simple as that. Do I like doing it? No, but that’s that.”
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Tiafoe will now need to reset for Friday’s semi-final with Fritz, who has won all but one of their seven previous encounters, including six on the trot since a first-round tie at Indian Wells back in 2016. It will be the first grand slam semi-final between American men since Andre Agassi defeated Robby Ginepri at the 2005 US Open, and with an even bigger prize at stake: an opportunity to end the 21-year drought for American men at the sport’s four bedrock tournaments dating back to Roddick’s win at the 2003 US Open.
“It’s only a matter of time,” Tiafoe said. “You put yourself in positions, it’s only a matter of time, and the game is open. It’s not like it once was where you make quarter-finals, you play Rafa, and you’re looking at flights. That’s just the reality.
“Now it’s just totally different. And no one’s unbeatable, especially later in the season where guys are maybe a little bit cooked, maybe just not as fresh and they’re vulnerable.”