With a 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 triumph against fourth seed Taylor Fritz on Tuesday, Novak Djokovic reaffirmed his supremacy and advanced to a thrilling US Open semifinal matchup with Carlos Alcaraz.
The 38-year-old had defeated Fritz in all ten of their prior meetings when he came at Arthur Ashe Stadium, but he occasionally had to fight hard to defeat the runner-up from the previous year and maintain his chances of winning a record 25th major championship.
Djokovic had a great start to the match, but in the ninth game, he was put under a lot of pressure. He saved five breakpoints to end the first set on serve, and then a spectacular crosscourt winner from deep sealed another tight hold in the second set.
The final American player in the draw, Fritz, broke on his eleventh try but was unable to capitalize and quickly fell behind two sets.
With better serving, the American displayed remarkable determination to win the third set, but that was the end of the comeback.
At the US Open, Djokovic held to love for a 5-4 lead in the fourth set, wasted two match points in the next set, and then closed it out to make it 16-0 against Americans.
Earlier on Tuesday, second seed Alcaraz defeated Czech Jiri Lehecka 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 at Arthur Ashe Stadium to enter the US Open semifinals.
With 28 victories and no break-points, Alcaraz had the crowd in the palm of his hand and has yet to lose a set at Flushing Meadows.
Lehecka defeated Alcaraz in the quarterfinals of the Doha tournament this season, making her one of the few players to do it. However, this time, he was outplayed and was only able to watch helplessly as the Spaniard’s forehand winner sped by on match point.
