He just keeps going, he keeps winning, especially beating Taylor Fritz. No. 7 seed Novak Djokovic is in the US Open semi-finals after beating fourth seed Fritz 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 on Tuesday night. He is currently 11-0 against Fritz.
Djokovic put pressure on Fritz from his first service game, where Fritz faced three breakpoints and was able to save only the first two. In the next game, Fritz got the opportunity to breakpoint, but then brought Djokovic’s serve back to the net.
Fritz has another optimal opportunity to return to serve. Fritz got a two breakpoint lead as Djokovic led set 5-3, but neither could convert, including the incredible 25-shot rally that Djokovic ultimately won.
Fritz then scored three more break chances, but Djokovic failed to convert any of them, showing incredible defence, return game and calm.
However, Fritz seemed to find his footing and his confidence in that game, indicating that he would start a second set. He produced a simple hold and got another break chance at 2-1. Again, Djokovic created a masterpiece to gain another hold.
Fritz’s frustration mount went 0 at 9 with chances of breakpoints up to that point, making Djokovic an advantage and defeated the careless Fritz for a 4-3 lead.
Shortly afterwards, Fritz converted the breakpoint. Djokovic, who was offered for the set, fell 0-40 before throwing the drop shot into the net. In the second five games, Arthur Ashe Stadium exploded.
However, as soon as he seemed to have momentum, Fritz’s service abandoned him and he double-folded his service game. This time Djokovic served in an easy way and put away the second set, 7-5. Fritz wants to leave the court between the second and third sets and gather himself.
That helped. So the crowd did. Early in the third set, Djokovic began to hear some jeers and approached the stool judge in search of help. However, there was not much he could do, and Fritz changed the opportunity for a break, running down Djokovic’s drop shot, highlighting the forehand winner.
This time he wouldn’t have repeated the mistakes from the second set. Rather, he strengthened his diet to take the set at 6-3 after a hard-earned break. He produced seven aces and earned 90% of his first service points on the set.
The fourth set seemed tied to a tiebreak as both men were working well, but went down 5-4 in serve and Fritz went down 15-40. He managed to save two match points with an incredible baseline play, but then double-fall-away the match.
In an interview with ESPN after the match, Djokovic admitted that he thought Fritz was a better player in the two sets. The differences were a few important points. Djokovic converted four of his nine break chances. Fritz had 13 and two. Fritz also had a forced error of 42 compared to Djokovic’s 40.
It was yet another loss that Fritz shook his head incredibly, with many viewers doing the same thing about the other person. Does Djokovic continue doing it at 38? He must then reach an even higher level. He faces second seed Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals. Alcaraz has not yet dropped the set for this tournament.
