Home Hopes Surge As US Open Semi-Finals Engage in Friendly Fire

AFP/APP

New York: Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz will battle for the honor of delivering the United States’ first male Grand Slam finalist in 15 years on Friday, while Jannik Sinner and Jack Draper also break new ground.

The four have fought their way through a tournament marked by shock first-week exits of favorites Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz.

As a result, a first-time US Open champion will be crowned on Sunday. For the first time since 2002, none of the four Grand Slams will have been won by the “Big Three” of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, or Djokovic.

Jannik Sinner (ITA x1) vs Jack Draper (GBR x25)

Head-to-head: Draper leads 1-0

Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner is playing in his maiden US Open semi-final, while his close friend Jack Draper is competing in the last four of any Slam for the first time.

Italian top seed Sinner, who arrived in New York amid controversy over two failed drugs tests, has seen title rivals four-time champion Djokovic and 2022 winner Alcaraz eliminated.

Also out early was former runner-up Alexander Zverev, leaving the 23-year-old Sinner as the only member of the top 10 to have reached the semi-finals. A win on Friday would make him the first Italian man to reach the US Open final.

To do so, Sinner must set aside his friendship with 22-year-old Draper, just weeks after they played doubles together in Montreal.

“We text each other when we have good or bad times,” Sinner said. “It’s a great friendship. Obviously, we try to put this away for the hours we are on court, but whenever we shake hands, it’s again friendship, and all is good.”

Left-handed Draper has blitzed through the draw and is the only one of the four semi-finalists not to have dropped a set, winning 60 of his 63 service games.

Draper, who also models when not playing tennis, is the first British man to reach the semi-finals since Andy Murray won the 2012 title. The Briton defeated Sinner in their only previous meeting, but that win on grass at Queen’s came three years ago.

“We send each other messages in good moments, bad moments,” Draper said. “It’s a tough sport, especially when you’re young. We haven’t got many friends.”

Taylor Fritz (USA x12) vs Frances Tiafoe (USA x20)

Head-to-head: Fritz leads 6-1

It has been 21 years since Andy Roddick captured the US Open, the last time an American man lifted a Grand Slam trophy. Fritz and Tiafoe were just five years old at the time. Roddick was also the last US man to reach a Grand Slam final, losing to Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2009, and the last to reach the US Open title match in 2006, again falling to Federer.

“Taylor and I had a conversation about being the number one, number two Americans for a very long time,” Tiafoe said ahead of the first all-American Grand Slam semi-final since Andre Agassi defeated Robby Ginepri in New York in 2005.

“I remember we were sitting on a plane some years ago, and he’s a pretty to-himself kind of dude, and he’s like, ‘Bro, I think me and you are going to be one, two Americans and leading the way.'”

Fritz had lost four Grand Slam quarter-finals before ending that streak by knocking out fourth-ranked Alexander Zverev. Tiafoe, meanwhile, is in the semi-finals for the second time in his last three US Open appearances.

Although Fritz enjoys a 6-1 head-to-head lead over Tiafoe, the latter has dismissed that as irrelevant ahead of Friday night’s clash under the Arthur Ashe Stadium lights. “It’s different on Ashe, man,” said Tiafoe.