Tiafoe advances over injured Dimitrov to set up all-American US Open semi-final against Fritz
Frances Tiafoe’s US Open run continued on Tuesday night, as Grigor Dimitrov retired in the fourth set of the quarter-final match. It’s Tiafoe vs Taylor Fritz in the next round.
Frances Tiafoe, US Open 2024 – © Chryslène Caillaud / Panoramic
Frances Tiafoe is back in the US Open semi-finals.
Two years after making his best run at a Grand Slam, Tiafoe guaranteed a return trip to the final weekend in New York when he got a retirement from Grigor Dimitrov on Tuesday night. The American led 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3, 4-1 when Dimitrov called it quits due to an apparent hamstring injury after three hours and four minutes.
Coming off a five-setter against Andrey Rublev in the round of 16, Dimitrov never looked 100 percent on Tuesday. The 33-year-old briefly found his game to come back from a break down in the second set and level the match at a set apiece, but Tiafoe always seemed to have the upper hand.
Tiafoe was quick to regain control, breaking early in the third on his way to once again going up by a set. In the fourth it was all over for Dimitrov, who was visibly struggling to move. The Bulgarian battled admirably for a few more games despite his box imploring him to call it a day, but finally he realized there was no use in continuing.
“Obviously it’s not the way I want to get through,” Tiafoe said during his on-court interview. “But obviously happy to get through. Another semi-final here. Incredible.
“It was a really, really high-level match. I liked where I was at in the third regardless. But obviously I didn’t want it to end like that.”
“Not that much to say right now, Dimitrov commented. “First of all, congrats to Frances. (He) fought very hard; played good tennis — really good tennis, actually. Yeah, it’s just disappointing moment for me. I need to reassess a couple of things. But considering how I have played throughout the whole weeks here, I’ll take that quarterfinal any time.”
ALL-AMERICAN SEMI-FINAL BETWEEN FRITZ AND TIAFOE
For the first time since 2009, when Andy Roddick lost to Roger Federer in five sets at Wimbledon, an American man will play for a singles Grand Slam title. That’s because next up for Tiafoe in the semis on Friday is none other than good friend and compatriot Taylor Fritz.
Fritz secured a spot in his first major semi by upsetting Alexander Zverev in four sets earlier on Tuesday.
