Fritz Can’t Get By Sinner
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
By Shara Talia Taylor
20th-seeded Frances Tiafoe accomplished much, but did not advance beyond the semifinals at the 2024 US Open as 12th-seeded Taylor Fritz won 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 Friday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Serves were a significant factor for both players and impacted the outcome of the match. Tiafoe experienced some pains in the fourth set, however, nervousness was his Achilles’ heel.
“Ultimately, yeah, I think nerves got the better of me tonight,” he said following the match. “Couldn’t really move. Got to tip your hat to Taylor.”
Fritz served first. He started with high-speed power serves, sometimes unanswered, as he won the first three games of the set. Tiafoe started to make a comeback as he made Fritz move. He found success to win the first set with strong serves, strategic hits to unreachable areas and forcing Fritz into making overpowered shots.
Tiafoe’s serve declined some as the match progressed and Fritz improved. Tiafoe had four aces in the first two sets. He made 63% of his first serves in the first set and 73% of his first serves in the second set. He had zero aces in the third set, two in the fourth and one in the final set. Less than 45% of his first serves were successful in the third, fourth and fifth sets each.
Fritz had two aces in the first set and three in the second set. 53% of his first serves were successful in the first set and 56% of his first serves in the second set. He had five aces in the fourth set and four aces in the last set. 63% of his first serves were successful in the fourth and 61% were successful in the fifth sets.
“It was really just about trying to withstand it for as long as I could, keep holding serve and apply the scoreboard pressure and just hope that at a certain point that the errors are going to come a little more,” Fritz said. “It got to that point in the end, and I finally started to get some mistakes from him, and some balls that I could, you know, look to be a little more aggressive on.”
Tiafoe said he felt unbelievable physically.
“I thought I was the better player for sure tonight,” he said. “In the fourth, I don’t know, just had some in-and-out cramps.”
Fritz moved ahead to become the first American man in a US Open final since 2006. He took on World No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the finals Sunday. Skinner won the US Open men’s singles championship in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 .
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