In the first all-American men’s semifinal at a major since the 2005 US Open, when Andre Agassi defeated Robby Ginepri to reach his 15th and last major final, Tiafoe had the upper hand early on, going up two-sets-to-one and even threatening to break early in the fourth set with Fritz serving at 2-all, 15-30.
But Fritz held and the two stayed on serve until Tiafoe’s 4-5 service game, when the match took a dramatic turn—from 40-15 up he hit two double faults and two forehand unforced errors to drop serve and the fourth set, and they headed to a fifth.
Fritz then jumped out to a 4-0, double-break lead in the decider. Tiafoe got one of the breaks back in the next game, but Fritz broke again in the following game for a 5-1 lead, then served it out at love, dusting it off with his 16th ace of the match.
Not only is Fritz now through to the biggest final of his career, he’s now secured a return to the Top 10 on the ATP rankings—he’s projected to rise from No. 12 to No. 7 by reaching the final, and could climb one spot higher to No. 6 should he win the title.
His career-high ranking is No. 5.
Awaiting him in the final will be the world No. 1, Jannik Sinner.
The two are 1-1 in their head-to-head, both previous meetings coming at Indian Wells—Fritz won in the fourth round in 2021, 6-4, 6-3, while Sinner won in the quarterfinals in 2023, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
