Taylor Fritz becomes first American man to reach a Grand Slam final in 15 years

Taylor Fritz has become the first American man to reach a Grand Slam final in more than 15 years.

With his 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory over Frances Tiafoe in an all-American semifinal at the US Open on Friday night, Fritz is not only through to the first Grand Slam final of his career, he’s ended a number of droughts for American men.

First of all, he’s the first American man to reach a major final since Andy Roddick at 2009 Wimbledon, where he (barely) finished runner-up to Roger Federer, 16-14 in the fifth set.

Second of all, he’s the first American man to reach a US Open final since 2006, where Roddick fell to Federer in four sets.

Roddick was the last American man to capture a Grand Slam title, achieving the feat at the 2003 US Open.

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.