Tireless, indestructible, Novak Djokovic beat, on Tuesday evening, the American Taylor Fritz (9th in the world) in three sets (6-1, 6-4, 6-4) in New York and joined, once again in his career, the US Open semi-finals. The Serb psychologically dominated his opponent, too often at fault in crucial moments.
It must be said that with a record of seven defeats in as many confrontations before this meeting, the 25-year-old American was not starting as a favorite. But with the thousands of supporters behind him from the Arthur Ashe court, the outcome could have been in his favor. But Djokovic gave almost nothing to Fritz, who missed too often to expect anything from this eighth clash.
Already in the first set, Fritz was unable to take any play on his serve. Broken on his three face-offs, with a low 19% of points scored on his second serve (at 3/16), the American gave in without appeal (6-1).
In the second set, there was better for the 9th player in the first exchanges. We even surprised the Serb crouching several times, seeming to be in physical pain – with high humidity and 35-36 ° C felt on the American court. But, again broken (2-1), Fritz missed on his opponent’s next service four attempts to pick up.
A Djokovic record in demi-finals
Once this chance passed, Novak Djokovic rolled out on his face-offs, with a single point dropped on his last three of the set (6-4). Back to the wall, but still engaged and in the game, Taylor Fritz showed his limits one last time against his pet peeve. At 3-2 in his favour, the American could have twice taken off, only to finally crack on his face-off, at 3-3.
47
By winning against Taylor Fritz, Novak Djokovic joined for the 47th time in his career (the 13th in New York) a semi-final of a Grand Slam tournament. He now holds this record alone ahead of Roger Federer (46).
Fritz fought back in stride, only to crack again, serving first then missing a 10th break point on the last game of the match, concluded by Djokovic as boss. Direction the semi-finals for the world number 2, the 13th time in his career in New York out of the 47 Grand Slams in his career, thus surpassing Roger Federer’s record (46).
To try to reach a tenth final of the US Open, he will have to beat another American: either Frances Tiafoe (10th in the world) or Ben Shelton (47th), opposed later in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday.
2023-09-06 04:16:57
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