(New York-Flushing Meadows) - An unprecedented, historic US Open men’s semifinals is in motion on Friday. None of the semifinalists have won the title in New York before, and for the first time since 2005, the major will feature an all-American semifinal between world No. 12 Taylor Fritz and 20th seed Frances Tiafoe.
Friday night session in Arthur Ashe Stadium will see a much anticipated all-American men’s semifinal between 12th seed Taylor Fritz and compatriot Frances Tiafoe, battling at Flushing Meadows for a place in a maiden career US Open final.
None of the US Open semifinalists have reached a final at the slam, so whoever advances to the championship match will enter uncharted territory on Sunday’s showdown.
Moreover, for the first time since 2005, an American, either Fritz or Tiafoe, will play at their home slam final.
The world No. 12 earned a crucial 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 fourth-round win over eighth seed Casper Ruud last Sunday, making it through back-to-back US Open quarterfinals, his best result in the venue in ninth appearances.
Last year, Tiafoe reached the same feat, becoming the first American man since Andy Roddick in 2007-08 to reach consecutive quarterfinals at the tournament before falling to countryman Ben Shelton in the last eight.
However, the No. 1 American racquet, who dropped his first set all week against Ruud, would take the better of fourth seed Alexander Zverev in a four-set thriller to progress to a maiden semifinal on home soil.
Territory Tiafoe knows well, having become a US Open semifinalist in 2022 for the first time, moving past 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal before falling to eventual winner Carlos Alcaraz in five sets.
The former top 10 player is back to semifinal bound after ninth seed Grigor Dimitrov retired due to injury when Tiafoe led the contest 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3, 4-1 on Tuesday night.
During his post-match press conference, he was asked by the press when he started to believe he could go the distance again in New York.
“I am coming here feeling pretty good,” he said. “It always helps to go to a place where you’ve had great success. But to be honest, I wasn’t really thinking about making a semi or winning the event. I just saw the draw and was like, I gotta play Ben.”
Adding: “I’m not that high-seeded like before, so I don’t know where I’m going to sit. Playing Ben, that’s not something you’re gonna look past, are you? Once I got through that, the draw shakes up, and then you’re kind of, why not? Just day by day. Now my feet are in the semis. It is what it is.”
After a challenging first half of the season, the world No. 20 partnered with new coach Davit Witt, finding great form.
In the lead-up to the last major this season, the 26-year-old finished runner-up to world No. 1 Jannik Sinner at the Cincinnati Open.
The top-seeded Italian will face Briton Jack Draper opening men’s singles semifinal action in Ashe earlier on Friday.
In 2024, Fritz has captured two of his eight ATP titles (Eastbourne and Delray Beach); he leads Tiafoe 6-1 in their head-to-head series on tour.
All of their seven previous meetings took place on hard courts.
When asked by the press about a potential clash against his fellow compatriot during his press conference after beating Zverev, he commented: “If it’s Foe, that’s going to be a lot of fun, just electric. I think that would be awesome for the fans, as well, to be guaranteed that one of us is going to be going to the finals.”
