Good day for Djokovic, better one for Americans at US Open

 

[September 06, 2023]  By Steve Keating

NEW YORK (Reuters) -It was a good day for Novak Djokovic at the U.S. Open on Tuesday, as he claimed his spot in a record 47th Grand Slam semi-final, but an even better one for the United States with Coco Gauff and Ben Shelton getting through to the last four.

The only thing that kept it from being a perfect tennis Tuesday for home fans was Djokovic beating Taylor Fritz 6-1 6-4 6-4 to stay on course for a fourth U.S. Open title that would see him match Margaret Court's record haul of 24 Grand Slams.

With the temperature once again nudging towards 100 Fahrenheit (38 Celsius), 19-year-old Gauff warmed up the Arthur Ashe crowd by speeding past Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko 6-0 6-2 to become the youngest American to reach the U.S. Open women's semi-finals since Serena Williams in 2001.

But Fritz could not keep the party going, although the 25-year-old had his opportunities, converting only two of 12 break chances while committing 51 unforced errors, almost double his opponent's 26.

Fritz had lost all seven career meetings with Djokovic and never beaten a top-10 opponent at a Grand Slam but rolled into the quarter-finals in sensational form, the only player to not drop a set and broken only once in 50 service games.

Djokovic wasted no time ending both those runs, breaking the American three times before ending the first set with a booming ace and never took his foot off the gas.

The fickle New York crowd has never really fully embraced Djokovic and the Serb is likely to find himself increasingly unpopular this week.

Not since Andy Roddick in 2003 has an American man won the U.S. Open and Djokovic could single-handedly dash home hopes of ending that drought.

Having eliminated Fritz he now finds 20-year-old Shelton standing between him and a 10th trip to the final.

"It's normal, it's logical to expect that most of the crowd would support the home player," said Djokovic. "That's probably going to be the case on Friday, but I'll be ready for it.

"I'm trying to enjoy the moments on the court, but there is so much stress and pressure going on that it's hard to have fun on the court.

"It's really about finding a way to navigate through the match and win a tennis match for me."

Tennis - U.S. Open - Flushing Meadows, New York, United States - September 5, 2023 Ben Shelton of the U.S. celebrates after winning his quarter final match against Frances Tiafoe of the U.S. REUTERS/Mike Segar

CARRY THE FLAG

There are not too many sporting events in New York that create more buzz than an all-American clash under the Arthur Ashe Stadium lights at the business end of the season's final Grand Slam.

The atmosphere during a night session is always electric but it was dialed up a few notches for Tiafoe and Shelton, the contest the first in 15 years two feature two Black American men battling on the world's largest tennis venue.

The match lived up to its blockbuster billing as the big-hitting Shelton hammered his way to 6-2 3-6 7-6(7) 6-2, becoming the youngest American to reach the U.S. Open men's last four since Michael Chang in 1992.

If Gauff is to reach her first U.S. Open final she will need to get past tricky Czech Karolina Muchova, who was a 6-0 6-3 winner over Romanian Sorana Cirstea.

The semi-final will be an intriguing match-up between two of tennis's hottest and most creative players.

Since her opening round loss at Wimbledon Gauff has won 17 of her last 18 matches, including titles in Washington and Cincinnati.

Muchova, the French Open finalist, has also been in superb hardcourt form, getting to the round of 16 at the Canadian Open and falling to Iga Swiatek, before losing in the final of the Cincinnati Open to Gauff.

Gauff may not have to carry the U.S. flag into the last four on her own, with Madison Keys, the losing finalist in 2017, meeting Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova on Wednesday in quarter-final action.

(Reporting by Steve Keating in New York, Additional reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Ken Ferris, Peter Rutherford)

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