America’s Taylor Fritz defeated Karen Khachanov to qualify for his first Wimbledon semifinals on Tuesday. The American registered a 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(4) win on No. 1 Court to make it to the last four of the championships.
Fritz had suffered quarter-final losses against Rafael Nadal (2022) and Lorenzo Musetti (2024) at SW19, but this time he was able to make it past the quarters.
The World No.5 wrapped up the game in two hours, 36 minutes to advance to the next round.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” said Fritz in his on-court interview. “Obviously having played the quarter-finals 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 lost the third set by 1-6 against the run of play as he was dominating the Russian, but the former made a strong comeback in the fourth set.
“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 admitted Khachanov lifted his level in the third set but feels he was not at his absolute best at the start.
“He definitely started playing a bit better, but I feel like I gave him a lot of hope by playing not the best game to start the third set for me,” said Fritz, when asked about his third-set collapse. “I’ve never really had a match change like that so drastically, where I felt so in control, playing great, serving great.
“I didn’t feel like my serve was in danger, I felt like I was putting all the pressure on his serve and then out of nowhere I just started making a tonne of mistakes. Before, I felt like I couldn’t miss, and all of a sudden, I’m making a tonne of mistakes and he’s putting all the balls in play. I really just had to fight to get that break back in the fourth and just get the match back to neutral.”
Fritz will take on Carlos Alcaraz on Friday in the semifinal clash.
