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Seventh-seeded Novak Djokovic returns a shot against fourth-seeded American Taylor Fritz during their U.S. Open quarterfinal on Tuesday night in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
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Seventh-seeded Novak Djokovic returns a shot against fourth-seeded American Taylor Fritz during their U.S. Open quarterfinal on Tuesday night in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
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By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer
NEW YORK — Novak Djokovic took a two-set lead against Taylor Fritz, an opponent he always beats, to close in on the semifinals, a round he often reaches at the U.S. Open, and marked the occasion by blowing kisses to those in Tuesday night’s crowd pulling for the last American man in the field.
That was just a taste of the back-and-forth between Djokovic and some of the folks in the Arthur Ashe Stadium seats, and there was still work that remained, but he finished off a 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 victory. Djokovic improved to 11-0 against 2024 runner-up Fritz and reached a record-extending 53rd Grand Slam semifinal, a total that includes a record-tying 14 at Flushing Meadows.
“In the end of the day, a win matters. I’m really proud of the fight that I put in. I wear my heart on my sleeve, always, for this sport. So I’m still enjoying it,” Djokovic said. “It was really anybody’s match. … For most of the second and third sets, he was the better player. That last game was nerve-wracking.”
He needed three match points to end it, and was leaning over, hands on knees, after the first two resulted in long rallies that went Fritz’s way. But on the last, the contest ended anticlimactically with a double-fault by the fourth-seeded Fritz, whose exit means the U.S. drought will continue without a male singles champion at any major since 2003, when Andy Roddick won in New York.
On Friday, Djokovic will play in his fourth Slam semifinal of the season and take on five-time major champion Carlos Alcaraz, who hasn’t dropped a set in the tournament. He was a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 winner against No. 20 Jiri Lehecka earlier Tuesday.
Djokovic leads No. 2 seed Alcaraz 5-3 head-to-head, winning their two most recent matchups – in the Australian Open quarterfinals this January and in the final at the Paris Olympics last year, when the Serbian finally fulfilled his wish to win a gold medal for his country.
The last two men’s quarterfinals are Wednesday: Alex de Minaur vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime, and defending champion Jannik Sinner vs. Lorenzo Musetti in an all-Italian matchup at night.
On Tuesday night, both men were dressed entirely in black – shirts, shorts, socks and shoes. Even Djokovic’s wrist bands were black, as was Fritz’s headband, which he had on wrong at the start, so the white lettering of his clothing sponsor’s name was upside-down until he made a change after the second set.
If the players’ get-ups looked alike, that’s where the similarities stopped. Djokovic, who has won four of his 24 major championships at the U.S. Open, most recently in 2023, did what he usually does to Fritz – and, to be fair, nearly everyone else – which is to say: return masterfully, control the longest points and serve to all the right spots, particularly in the clutch.
In sum, the 38-year-old Djokovic was generally a step, and a thought, or two ahead of the 27-year-old Fritz, whose serve got better over the last two sets.
Djokovic won 25 of the 42 points that lasted at least nine strokes. He saved 11 of the 13 break chances he faced. And he won 10 of the 11 points when he serve-and-volleyed.
Fritz came out a bit shaky. Not his best serving. Not his best groundstrokes. Maybe it was the foe and their one-sided history. Maybe it was the setting, the stage, the stakes.
Maybe it was the earlier-than-originally-planned start, on account of the cancellation of the women’s quarterfinal between Aryna Sabalenka and Marketa Vondrousova, who withdrew with a knee iniury.
Djokovic stole Fritz’s initial service game on the way to a 3-0 lead that soon was a two-set advantage. Fritz worked his way into the match and made things more interesting, but never moved ahead.
Along the way, Djokovic got into it with the spectators backing his opponent, although it’s worth nothing there were plenty supporting the man who’s spent more time at No. 1 than anyone in tennis history, too.
Still, there were those applauding and cheering faults by Djokovic, considered a no-no in tennis.
It reached a head in the third set, when the fault celebrations grew more raucous as the clock passed 10:30 p.m. Djokovic asked chair umpire Damian Dumusois, “What are you going to do?” and then mockingly repeated the words the official kept saying in an unsuccessful attempt to settle the interruptions, “Thank you. Please. Thank you. Please.”
Soon, Fritz was smacking a forehand winner to break for a 3-1 lead in that set, one he would take.
But Djokovic came through when it mattered most.
ALCARAZ CRUISES
Carlos Alcaraz finger-wagged the crowd, beat Jiri Lehecka to the net and cruised into the semifinals.
The second-seeded Spaniard beat Lehecka, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4, on Tuesday, making some highlight-reel shots and putting his hand to his ear afterward to encourage more cheers from fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium. It’s his first hard-court semifinal appearance at a major since winning his first Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open in 2023.
“I kind of met the Grand Slam version of Carlos,” Lehecka said. “He just showed that he is one of the contenders, for sure. Everyone knew that, and he proved that.”
Alcaraz is just 22 years old and is in the semifinals at a major for the ninth time. Only Rafael Nadal with 10 has more before turning 23.
Alcaraz would supplant Sinner – whom he lost to in the Wimbledon final and beat in the French Open final – atop the rankings if he wins the U.S. Open for a second time.
“It’s really difficult not to think about it,” Alcaraz said. “Every time that I step on the court, I am trying not to think about it. If I think about the No. 1 spot too much, I think I’m going to put pressure on myself and I just don’t want to do that. I just want to step on the court, try to do my things, try to follow my goals in the match and try to enjoy as much as I can. The No. 1 is there, but I’m trying not to think so much about it.”
Before facing Djokovic on Friday night, Alcaraz plans to play golf Wednesday with 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia. He thinks his countryman owes him more than a few strokes.
“He has to give me at least between 10 and 15 shots,” Alcaraz said. “It’s going to be great. I’m not that good, Sergio, come on.”
PEGULA ROLLS INTO SEMIS
Fourth-seeded Jessica Pegula, the highest-seeded American remaining in the women’s singles draw, defeated Barbora Krejcikova, 6-3, 6-3, to get to the semifinals at a Grand Slam tournament for just the second time in her career.
Pegula failed to advance into the semis in her first 22 main draw appearances at a major before reaching the final at Flushing Meadows a year ago, when she lost to Aryna Sabalenka. They’ll meet again in the semifinals on Thursday after Sabalenka advanced in a walkover when Marketa Vondrousova withdrew because of a knee injury.
“My biggest accomplishment last year was just getting past the quarterfinals,” Pegula said. “Now I can say I’ve done it twice.”
This year, Pegula was eliminated in the fourth round at the Australian Open, the third round at the French Open and the first round at Wimbledon. Being back on hard courts at the U.S. Open has been a recipe for success. For the second consecutive year, Pegula made the final four at Flushing Meadows without dropping a set, and has only been pushed past five-all in one set so far, which came in the second set of her third-round match with Victoria Azarenka.
Before Pegula, the last woman to reach the U.S. Open semifinals in back-to-back years without surrendering a set was Serena Williams, who did so four straight times from 2011-14.
Pegula has lost 23 total games in this tournament, the fewest by an American woman en route to a major semifinal since Williams at the 2016 Australian Open (22 games lost prior to semis).
“I’ve been able to kind of go into those matches and really take care of business,” Pegula said. “I think that’s also what’s given me a lot of confidence is I’ve played good players but (gotten) convincing wins over those players.”
Pegula, 31, is aiming for her first Grand Slam championship. She and No. 8 Amanda Anisimova are the only Americans left in the women’s singles field.
Krejcikova knocked out one of them, Taylor Townsend, who failed to convert eight match points when they met in the quarterfinals on Sunday. Pegula was not perfect, but she played well enough to stay in control at all times and broke Krejcikova one final time to end the match in under 90 minutes – on her first match point attempt.
“It got really tight,” Pegula said. “She had a couple really good returns when I was serving at 4-1, and then we all saw what she did against Taylor, so I was happy that we’re done.”
Krejcikova, a two-time major champion, credited Pegula for placing shots in the middle of the court where she couldn’t return the ball.
“She didn’t really miss that many, and she was playing quite good tennis,” Krejcikova said. “I wish I did better but just today wasn’t the day.”
VONDROUSOVA INJURY SENDS SABALENKA TO SEMIS
According to the U.S. Tennis Association, Vondrousova is the first woman to give her opponent a walkover – the term for when a tennis player withdraws from a match before it begins – at the U.S. Open in the quarterfinals or later since 1988, when Steffi Graf advanced to the final when Chris Evert did not play their semifinal.
“I tried my best to take the court today, but during the warm-up, I felt again my knee, and after consultation with the tournament doctor decided not to risk aggravating the injury,” Vondrousova, a 26-year-old left-hander from the Czech Republic, said in a statement released by the USTA. “I appreciate all the support this tournament and apologize to the fans who were looking forward to the match.”
She had advanced to the quarterfinals with a three-set victory over 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina on Sunday night.
With one of the two nighttime matches in Ashe scrapped Tuesday, the USTA didn’t replace Sabalenka vs. Vondrousova on the program with another contest, but set up the men’s quarterfinal between 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic and 2024 runner-up Taylor Fritz to begin at 8 p.m. ET. That was originally supposed to start whenever Sabalenka-Vondrousova ended.
Vondrousova has been as high as No. 6 in the WTA rankings but a series of injuries over the years kept off the tour for stretches at a time. That included operations on her wrist in 2022 and on her shoulder last year.
She entered the U.S. Open ranked 60th and unseeded.
“So sorry for Marketa after all she’s been through,” Sabalenka wrote on social media. “She has been playing amazing tennis and I know how badly this must hurt for her.”
The last two women’s quarterfinals are scheduled for Wednesday: No. 2 Iga Swiatek vs. No. 8 Amanda Anisimova – that’s a rematch of last month’s Wimbledon final, which Swiatek won, 6-0, 6-0 – and No. 11 Karolina Muchova vs. No. 23 Naomi Osaka.
That will be Osaka’s first Grand Slam quarterfinal since the 2021 Australian Open, where she wound up claiming her fourth major trophy.
VENUS WILLIAMS’ DOUBLES RUN HALTED BY TOP SEEDS
Venus Williams’ first Grand Slam tournament in two years ended on Tuesday when she and Leylah Fernandez lost in the women’s doubles quarterfinals to the top-seeded duo of Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova, 6-1, 6-2.
When the match finished after 56 minutes in Louis Armstrong Stadium, Williams smiled as she walked to the net to shake hands with Siniakova, then hug Townsend. Thousands of spectators rose to give Williams a standing ovation; Townsend and Siniakova then joined in, applauding for Williams.
“Growing up watching Venus and (her sister) Serena, for me and my sister, it was an inspiration,” Townsend told the crowd. “It was an honor to share the court today.”
Siniakova called Williams “a legend” and said it was “a privilege” to play against her.
The 45-year-old Williams earlier exited in the first round of both singles – bowing out against Karolina Muchova in three sets – and mixed doubles. She was out of competition for 16 months until returning to play at a tournament in Washington in July. Her most recent major tournament had been the 2023 U.S. Open.
“What I’m proudest of is it’s not easy to come off the bench. It really isn’t, and I have never had a layoff that long. It brought new challenges that I wasn’t ready for in so many ways. So I’m very proud that I … stayed myself. I didn’t try to play another game. I didn’t try to play it safe. I went for it, and that’s who I am. I go for it. When you go for it, good things happen,” Williams said. “Perhaps I didn’t get there this time, but I know who I am, and I know that I can work once I have a little chance.”
She said she wasn’t sure of future plans but made it sound as if she plans to play again.
“Seeing Venus playing on court for joy just kind of brought me back as to why I started playing tennis,” said Fernandez, a 22-year-old from Canada who was the 2021 singles runner-up in New York.
Williams and Fernandez received a wild-card entry from the U.S. Tennis Association and had not lost a set in their first three matches of their debut as a team.
Townsend, who currently is ranked No. 1 in doubles, and Siniakova are an experienced duo who won Wimbledon in 2024 and the Australian Open this year together. Siniakova has won a total of 10 Grand Slam titles in women’s doubles.
Williams, of course, is the owner of 14 Grand Slam titles in women’s doubles alongside Serena, who left the professional tour in 2022.
The older Williams sibling also has won seven major singles championships and another two in mixed doubles.
She was the oldest player in the singles draw at the U.S. Open since 1981.
Townsend’s time in Flushing Meadows continues in women’s doubles after she failed to convert eight match points and got knocked out of singles in the fourth round by Krejcikova.
“It was a tough match, but ultimately, I left everything out on the court. That was the only thing that me and the team could ask for,” Townsend said. “I really feel like matches like that are defining moments and opportunities. You can either go up or go down.”
Townsend also was in the spotlight for a tense postmatch exchange of words with Jelena Ostapenko after a singles match.
In the doubles semifinals, Townsend and Siniakova will meet the No. 4 seeds, Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens. The other semifinal matchup is No. 2 Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini against No. 3 Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe.
Kudermetova and Mertens won Wimbledon last month. Errani and Paolini won the French Open in June.
WHO PLAYS WEDNESDAY?
Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada and Alex de Minaur of Australia kick things off on Ashe, followed by Anisimova against Swiatek. Osaka, fresh off beating Coco Gauff, faces Muchova to open the night session, followed by men’s No. 1 seed Sinner against fellow Italian Musetti.
AP sports writer Stephen Whyno contributed to this story.
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