Twelfth-seeded Taylor Fritz booked his ticket to his first Grand Slam semifinal in New York on Tuesday by defeating fourth-seeded German Alexander Zverev 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3).

The 26-year-old from California had reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament four times since 2022 and had never advanced to the next round before his triumph on Tuesday in front of an American crowd that supported him throughout.

“I feel great. I’ve seen a lot of quarterfinals in recent years, but today was different,” Fritz said in an interview on the court. “It felt like it was time to take a step forward and it’s only fitting that I do that in front of this crowd.”

If No. 20 seed Frances Tiafoe defeats No. 9 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria in Tuesday’s other quarterfinal match, it would set up an all-American semifinal with Fritz, ensuring an American advances to the men’s final. No American has won a Grand Slam title since Andy Roddick at the 2003 U.S. Open.

Zverev put Fritz to a tough test. The German had more winners (52 to 42), fewer unforced errors (42 to 48) and more aces (14 to 12). He also fended off a whopping 11 of 13 break points.

But Fritz overcame that by controlling the tiebreaks in the first and fourth sets. The players held serve in both sets; Zverev fended off a triple set point in the 12th game of the first set to level the score at 6-6.

Fritz fell behind 1-2 in the first set tiebreak but then won six points in a row to win the set. After Zverev saved the first break point of the match late in the second set, Fritz took the third set, despite Zverev saving four more set points in the final game.

Fritz took a 4-1 lead in the fourth set tiebreak and never gave it back.

In his on-court interview, he said it was important to him to become more than just a player with a strong serve.

“I’ve been working a lot on improving my game,” Fritz said. “I feel like my forehand and backhand have always been there, but I’m trying to get to the net a little bit, trying to get some drop shots, just trying to improve my game so I can back up my serve better.”

Tiafoe reached the semifinals in New York in 2022 and the quarterfinals last year. Dimitrov is aiming for his fourth Grand Slam semifinal and his second at the US Open (2019).

–Field level media