American Taylor Fritz’s emotional answer after breaking 18-year US Open curse

One of the most surprising hoodoos in tennis has finally ended in incredible scenes in a wild five-set US Open semi-final thriller.

One of the most surprising hoodoos in tennis has finally ended after Taylor Fritz booked his first grand slam final at the expense of countryman Frances Tiafoe at the US Open.

The all-American semi-final meant history would be made in one way or another as Fritz claimed a 4-6 7-5 4-6 6-4 6-1 win in an epic three hours and 18 minutes clash to book a date with world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the final.

The result means Fritz has snapped American men’s curse in grand slam finals, becoming the first man since Andy Roddick at Wimbledon in 2009 to play in a tournament decider.

He also becomes the first local man to make a US Open singles final since Roddick achieved the result in 2006, when he fell in four sets to Roger Federer.

And Fritz now has the chance to become the first US man to win a grand slam title since — you guessed it — Roddick won the US Open in 2003, a 21-year drought.

To put it in perspective, Fritz, who was born in 1997, was just five years old at the time.

Speaking with fellow US player Christopher Eubanks after the match, Fritz appeared to be overwhelmed when he asked the world No. 12 about the drought-breaking achievement.

“It’s the reason why I do what I do,” Fritz said as he tried to keep his emotions in check.

“It’s the reason why I work so hard,” he added as his voice cracked.

“I mean, I’m in the finals of the US Open.”

Brilliant scenes from Taylor Fritz. Photo: Stan Sport

The brilliant scenes won over the fans as well.

The Tennis Channel’s Gill Gross commented: “Taylor Fritz was the guy who rose up the rankings before the rest of the Americans- he pushed ahead of Frances, Tommy, Reilly and they benefited from chasing him.

“Maybe they never caught him, but Frances, Tommy and Ben got to major semis before he did.

“Taylor deserves this.”

Tennis reporter Steve Tignor posted: “Frances Tiafoe was playing clean, focused tennis, and looked like the better player, until 4-4 in the 4th, two games from the match. Then he doubled faulted twice from 40-15 up, was broken, and won 1 more game. Kudos to Fritz for hanging in and competing his way to the final.”

Brutal for Tiafoe. Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

That meant a lot. Photo: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images/AFP

New York Times’ Christopher Clarey wrote: “Taylor Fritz tearing up understandably when asked by ESPN’s Chris Eubanks what it means to be the 1st American #USOpen men’s singles finalist in 18 years.”

Sports reporter Lindsay Gibbs added: “I wanted that for Tiafoe so, so badly. And I know he did too. But I’m impressed with Fritz. Loved seeing him get emotional at the end there.

“And beating Zverev at back-to-back majors deserves a big reward.

“Good match, boys. You did good.”

Sinner, the man who Fritz will meet in the final, also made history by making the US Open decider, becoming the first Italian man to make a final at Flushing Meadows after defeating British 25th seed Jack Draper in three sets.

Despite the 7-5 7-6 6-2 win seeing all three sets go to Sinner, it was still a gruelling three-hour clash with the world No. 1 dealing with a wrist injury throughout the match.

But the big story was the 26-year-old Fritz ending the US drought.

Fritz said Tiafoe was all over him throughout the match but just did enough to hang with his countryman.

“He overwhelmed me at the start and I was freaking out a little,” Fritz said.

“I just told myself to stay in it, hold serve and apply scoreboard pressure.

“I did all I could to stay in it. If I hadn’t have done that I’d regret it forever.

“In the final, I will come out and give it everything.”

It was devastating for Tiafoe. Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Tiafoe was the better player for large parts of the semi-final but after dumping a lazy drop shot into the net to surrender the fourth set, his game fell apart.

In a 27-minute final set, Tiafoe won just nine points as he slumped to a second US Open semi-final loss in his last three visits.

“It’s tough to swallow, it’s going to hurt,” Tiafoe said.

“I thought I was the better player but in the fourth set I had some cramps. My body kind of shut down on me. Probably to do with nerves.”

With AFP

Originally published as American Taylor Fritz’s emotional answer after breaking 18-year US Open curse