Frances Tiafoe becomes the first Black American man to reach a US Open semi-final since Arthur Ashe in 1972; "I want to play, I want to give my best," said the 24-year-old; Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka makes it back-to-back semi-finals in New York
Wednesday 7 September 2022 22:34, UK
Frances Tiafoe followed up his victory over Rafael Nadal by beating Andrey Rublev to become the first American man to reach the US Open semi-finals for 16 years.
Not since Andy Roddick in 2006 has a home player reached the last four in the men's singles, and Tiafoe is attempting to become the first home champion since Roddick won his only Grand Slam title in 2003.
The 24-year-old pulled off the win of his life against Nadal in the fourth round and this was just as impressive, with Tiafoe keeping his composure while his Russian opponent became more and more frustrated to claim a wonderful 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-0) 6-4 victory in front of a boisterous partisan crowd on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
"This is wild, this is crazy," said Tiafoe. "Biggest win of my life, coming out and getting another big win. It's huge growth. It's tough to turn a page but I did and now I'm in the semis.
"I feel so at home on courts like this. I want to play, I want to give my best. Let's enjoy this one but we've got two more guys."
Tiafoe, who was sent a good luck message by the president of Sierra Leone, was superb in the big moments against Rublev with his powerful ball-striking and willingness to come forward.
He saved a set point in the 12th game of the opening set before playing two superb tie-breaks, especially the second one, where he did not lose a point.
When Tiafoe broke serve to lead 4-3 in the third set, Rublev was virtually in tears, and the Russian, for whom this was a sixth grand slam quarter-final defeat, continued to berate himself.
Tiafoe kept his nerve superbly, saving a break point in the next game with the deftest of volleys before serving out the victory.
Aryna Sabalenka made it back-to-back US Open semi-finals with victory over Karolina Pliskova.
Belarusian star Sabalenka, who was beaten by Leylah Fernandez in the last four 12 months ago, survived a close second set to defeat Czech Pliskova 6-1 7-6 (7-4).
"Today I expected a great level," Sabalenka said. "I just tried to stay in this match as long as I can."
"Right now I'm not going for aces I'm just trying to put my serve on the big targets," she added. "I'm ready for another fight and I think I just have to stay focused on myself."
Sabalenka, who trailed Kaia Kanepi 6-2 5-1 in her second-round match, will bid to reach her first career grand slam final having also lost to Pliskova in the last four at Wimbledon last summer.
The 24-year-old was unable to play at Wimbledon this year because of the ban on Russian and Belarusian players, and used the time to train in Miami.
Having struggled horribly with her serve at the beginning of the year, hitting huge numbers of double faults, Sabalenka appears to have fixed the problem.
Her serve worked very well on Wednesday, with the sixth seed not facing a single break point and hitting three times as many winners as Pliskova.
Sabalenka also believes not being allowed to play Wimbledon has helped her chances of winning a first Grand Slam title, saying: "I had another pre-season. I worked really hard, and I worked a lot on my serve.
"It was a tough time, especially when I was working out in the gym and there was Wimbledon playing on the TV. I was always turning it off because I couldn't watch it.
"I had a lot of good memories from there, and I miss it very much. That's why I wasn't able to watch it, because it reminded me about the great time I had there.
"They took away one opportunity from me, and I worked really hard for this one."
There was a hairy situation when two tennis fans in the Arthur Ashe Stadium stands gave one another a haircut while Nick Kyrgios and Karen Khachanov played their quarter-final on Tuesday night.
They had clippers and the sort of cape a barber usually uses to keep a customer clean.
Soon enough, social media users were excited about how a YouTuber known for his pranks had pulled this one off.
Tournament security removed the two men from the match.
US Tennis Association spokesman Brendan McIntyre said: "When someone saw it, security went to the two individuals.
"They were escorted out of their seats and then off the grounds for disruption of play."
He added: "There's a first time for anything."
'Beer Girl' Megan Lucky also made her triumphant return this year, chugging down an entire glass of beer while on the jumbotron to the delight of thousands of tennis fans in a reprise of her attention-grabbing 2021 performances.
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