No. 5 Taylor Fritz advanced to the semifinals of Wimbledon for the first time by defeating No. 17 Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(4) on Tuesday in London.
Fritz twice had lost in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, dropping five-setters to Rafael Nadal in 2022 and Lorenzo Musetti in 2024. The 27-year-old has 10 ATP Tour titles but has yet to win a major.
In Friday’s semis, Fritz will meet No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz after the Spaniard recorded a 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Brit Cameron Norrie.
Afterward, Fritz said it was a relief to get past his Russian opponent in the two-hour, 36-minute match.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” the native Californian said in his on-court interview. “Obviously having played the quarterfinals here twice and lost in five (sets) twice, I don’t think I could have taken another one. So I’m really happy I’m going to get to play the semis here.”
Fritz had 16 aces among his 47 winners to go with 31 unforced errors.
Nerves seemed to strike in the third set, when Khachanov broke Fritz’s serve twice and ran up 29 total points, compared to 15 for Fritz.
“I’m feeling great to get through it,” said Fritz. “I feel like the match was going so well for me for two sets. I’ve never had a match really just flip so quickly, so I’m really happy with how I came back in the fourth set and got it done. I think the momentum was definitely not going to have been on my side going into a fifth.”
Fritz will be playing in his second semifinal at a major. At the 2024 U.S. Open, he defeated fellow American Frances Tiafoe in a five-set semi, then dropped the final to Italian No. 1 Jannik Sinner in straight sets.
Two-time defending champion Alcaraz ripped 13 aces while sweeping his way past Norrie. He had a 39-13 edge in winners and saved all five break points he faced.
“I’m just really happy to be able to play another semifinal here at Wimbledon,” Alcaraz said afterward. “It’s something really special and something that I wanted to do at the beginning of the week. I’m really happy with the level that I played today against a difficult player like Cam. I’m pretty sure that there is nobody working harder than him, so I’m happy to see him playing these kinds of matches.”
Alcaraz’s career-best winning streak now stands at 23 matches. He also stands 23-2 with two titles in five Wimbledon appearances.
Alcaraz is 2-0 all-time against Fritz but he’s expecting a big-time fight on Friday.
“He’s playing great,” Alcaraz said of Fritz. “He’s been really successful: Two titles, semifinals here at Wimbledon. … I’m just going to be ready for that battle. It’s always tough to play against him. I will just focus, but right now I want to enjoy and live this moment because it’s really not easy to play the semifinals here.”
–Field Level Media
