Francis Tiafoe beat Grigor Dimitrov to reach the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows on Tuesday night, marking the first time an American has played in the U.S. Open men's singles final in nearly two decades and setting the stage for an all-American semifinal with Taylor Fritz.
Tiafoe caught out a weary opponent and, with the help of a raucous Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd, built a 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 4-1 lead before Dimitrov retired from the quarterfinals with an injury just before midnight. Tiafoe reaches his second semifinal in three years, where he will face longtime friend and Davis Cup teammate, the 12th seed Fritz, who upset fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3) in the day session.
The 26-year-old Tiafoe, from Hyattsville, Maryland, had already become the first American man to reach three consecutive U.S. Open quarterfinals since Andy Roddick did it from 2006 to 2008. Either Tiafoe or Fritz, the 20th seed, will now become the first American man to reach a U.S. Championship final since Roddick in 2006.
“Let's have the best player win on Friday,” Tiafoe said. “It's going to be a great game. Popcorn, do what you've got to do. It's going to be a fun game on Friday.”
16 Years Later US Open Men's Title WinnerDimitrov, seeded ninth, was back in the men's quarterfinals for the second time in New York, but fatigue was clearly evident from his five-set marathon against Andrey Rublev on Sunday, with the 33-year-old Bulgarian looking sluggish and mentally disoriented throughout the first set.
Dimitrov struggled to get his first serve in and the enthusiastic crowd cheered his mistakes time and time again. Serving from behind throughout all but the first service game, he simply couldn't keep up with his opponent's intensity and movement, with constant chants of “Let's go, Tiafoe!” ringing out between points. The American broke in the fifth and ninth games, won 14 of 21 points on Dimitrov's second serve and easily won the opener in 52 minutes.
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Tiafoe continued the momentum he left off in the first set in the second, pressuring the Bulgarian's serve relentlessly and breaking free in the fourth game to take a two-set lead. But in the seventh game, out of nowhere, Dimitrov put pressure on Tiafoe's serve, converting three chances on his first break point of the night and winning the third when Tiafoe smashed a forehand into the net. A tense tiebreaker soon followed, with both players on edge, but strangely enough, Dimitrov survived the 72-minute set with three consecutive double faults.
Dimitrov had fought back from a shaky game at that point, but Tiafoe's first serve success rate was below 50 percent. For a moment, it looked like anyone could win. Then Tiafoe hit a powerful inside-out forehand from the baseline in the fifth game that Dimitrov couldn't handle. After that, Dimitrov's foot seemed to hurt during the long rallies and he started to move cautiously between points.
Dimitrov served at 3-5 and opted to play without calling for a physiotherapist, but was quickly broken and double-faulted on set point, drawing a large crowd in the stands. He limped off the court between sets for treatment and played four games in obvious pain before raising the white flag after three hours and four minutes.
“I've always pushed myself and my body to the limits but there comes a time when you have to make a decision and I made that decision today,” said Dimitrov, a former world number three who was forced to withdraw from Wimbledon this year with a groin injury during his fourth-round match against Daniil Medvedev. “What can I say after this has happened two tournaments in a row? I think I have enough experience to know there's no point in continuing and I think that's it. Do I like doing it? No, that's it.”
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Tiafoe will need to reset his mind when he faces Fritz in the semifinals on Friday, who has won all but the first round of their seven previous meetings, including six straight victories since a first-round draw at Indian Wells in 2016. This will be the first Grand Slam semifinal between two American men since Andre Agassi beat Robby Ginepri at the 2005 U.S. Open, and there's an even bigger prize at stake: a chance to end a 21-year drought by an American man in the sport's four bedrock tournaments, dating back to Roddick's victory at the 2003 U.S. Open.
“It's just a matter of time,” Tiafoe said. “Once you get in position, it's just a matter of time. The matches are open. It's not like it used to be, where you get to the quarterfinals and you play Rafa and you've got a plane ticket waiting for you. That's the reality.”
“It's completely different now and nobody is immune to losses, especially in the second half of the season, because players are a bit tired, they're not as fresh and they're more vulnerable.”
