Key events
Zverev holds with ease, then sets about breaking back, changing up his angles – and getting the break with a shot down the line that catches Fritz on his heels. We’re back on serve in the third set, one-set all. Get comfy!
Fritz powers to another hold, much more comfortable than the last, and leads this third set 3-0. By the way, if he wins this match, then the only man who can stop an American finalist will be Grigor Dimitrov. The last home finalist in the US Open men’s final was Andy Roddick, who lost to (of course) Roger Federer in 2006.
Zverev was close to taking charge of this match, there, and the missed chance seems to have knocked his concentration. Some cheap unforced errors here allow Fritz a break point, which he takes. The American leads 2-0 in the third set, and the momentum shifts again!
So, one set all, and as Tim Henman points out, it’s now a best-of-three – and if they share the next two, a one-set shootout. Yeah, that’s how it works, Tim. Sorry. We like Tim really, he seems like a nice bloke. Anyway, Fritz has to dig in to hold, but does so, and leads 1-0 in the third set.
Thanks Daniel. A quick mention for this, from Tumaini Carayol, on Jack Draper’s upcoming quarter-final with Alex De Minaur. That’s the second match on Ashe tomorrow, with Beatriz Haddad Maia v Karolina Muchova up first. The evening session – Iga Swiatek v Jessica Pegula, and Jannik Sinner v Daniil Medvedev – looks decent too.
At 30-0, Zverev lifts a forehand wide of the sideline, but Zverev quickly raises two set points … only to burn the first going long on the forehand. But when Fritz goes long with the forehand, the match is level at one set apiece, and Zverev will wonder if he’s drawn the sting – though I think i wrote that during their Wimbledon match, which the American won in five. Otherwise, I’m off for a break – here’s Niall Mcveigh to croon you through the next hour. Fritz 7-6 3-6 Zverev
Netting a forehand at 15-all, Zverev goes to remonstrate with his racket, then stops himself and rests it on the court instead before using it to play a nice approach and low volley which sets up an overhead for 30-all. And when he makes 30-40, Fritz can’t return a deep forehand, so at 5-3 we’ve got our break and Zverev will now serve for the second set! He’s playing more aggressively now, from closer to the baseline and coming in more often; it’s working well for him.
A brilliant backhand pass, on the run, gives Fritz a snifflet at 30-15, then a big forehand persuades Zverev to net – and by the standards of this match, this is a chance. And now he’s facing a second serve too … so Zverev astonishes a second first serve at 133mph and it doesn’t come back. In comms, though, Feli notes that he was pushed to the gamble by Fritz landing his returns, and when he tries it at 40-30, he doubles. For all the difference it makes: two gigantic serves seal the hold, and Zverev trails 6-7 4-3.
The nineties are back in fashion – look at these jeans! – and rightly so. I’m an 80s child, 90s teenager, so of course I’m biased, but they were a phenomenal decade of pop culture and sport, far better than anything since in those aspects, and the revival continues here as Fritz holds in another boom-boom-boom-boom game to level the second set at 3-3.
Zverev holds to 15 and, as expected, neither player quite has the game to break the other. Fritz leads 7-6 2-3.
Also going on:
At 15-all, Zverev gets a look at a second serve but does little with it; good, because the shot he produces to end the rally is so absurd I don’t know what to tell you. Fritz plays a fine point but, having apparently finished it to the forehand corner, Zverev pegs after it and, from just above the ground, hooks over the top of the highest part of the net and curls on to the corner, then poses, arms out, for ages – like David Beckham against Greece. So Fritz hammers down an ace, then quickly closes out for 7-6 2-2; that’s brilliant behaviour because he didn’t dwell on what he just saw, nor on how much his opponent appreciated himself for it.
At 30-0, Fritz tries a drop, but it won’t clamber over the net, then Zverev annihilates a serve down the T, and Fritz leads 7-6 1-2.
During the first set, Zverev seemed to have a problem with the tension in his strings, and he was particularly vexed during the breaker; a new one has just arrived and sits by his seat. And you can see how details like this might get into a player’s head too – I don’t know if this was why but I’m surprised he’s played so tepidly thus far. Anyroad, at 30-all Fritz swings an ace out wide, a return goes into the net, and that’s 1-1 in the second.
A decent volley from Zverev makes 30-all and another gives him 40-30 – he’s finding it a bit of a struggle at the moment, but he holds to trail 6-7 1-0. It’s Fritz, though, who’s seeking to make things happen.
“On the topic of no breaks to win a match,” says James W, “Sampras/Agassi at the US Open in 2001 featured no breaks from either, Sampras winning in four.”
“Seeing that Stich v Becker semi on Grandstand took me right back,” writes Simon McMahon. “Surely the most evocative sporting theme ever. Keith Mansfield and Alan Hawkshaw, the Borg and McEnroe of library music.”
I was in the discotheque recently and heard something that sounded like it. I was overjoyed, and were I a DJ, I’d 100% be making a jungle or amapiano version.
A booming serve raises four set points and, well though Zverev then retrieves, Fritz only needs one, spanking an overhead to lead 7-6(2)! He’s been the better, more aggressive player so far, had the break points, and played by far the better breaker.
Now then! Fritz pushes Zverev back, then hits down the line to the corner, comes in, and clobbers a drive volley cross-court for 4-2! And when Zverev goes long next point, Fritz leads by a double mini-break at 5-2!
Tim reckons Fritz has been the better player so far and that’s just about fair, but the difference is more that he’s playing closer to his best. Ordinarily in a tiebreak, I’d back the bigger server, but there’s so little to choose between these two that I can’t do that here, so I guess I’ll go with Zverev’s experience. And he makes the mini-break immediately, which is retrieved immediately, before a monstrous backhand cross-court, when behind in the point, keeps us on serve at 2-1 to the German.
Fritz doesn’t do enough with a volley which sits up, but then Zverev doesn’t with a pass, allowing the winner for 0-15 … then a brilliant return makes 0-30! Here comes pressure! And it tells, another useful return encouraging Zverev to waft long; three set points. The first is confiscated via service-winner, the second via big serve and net clean-up, the third via service-winner. An ace follows, and the ability to deliver like this when in a hole is quite something, but at the end of a rare long rally, the majority of which have been won by the German, the 28th stroke – unleashed by him – hits the net and takes us back to deuce. And from there, Zverev closes out, meaning our first and probably not last breaker.
A tremendous game from Fritz – across the piece, 45% of his serves have gone unreturned and he nails the deliveries here – means that he’s sitting down within seconds, Zverev having to think about how he’s going to force a breaker, trailing 5-6.
Now then. Off balance, Zverev hooks a forehand long for 0-15, and by the standards of this match, this is a chance – all the more so when Zverev misses a second first serve. For all the difference it makes, a delivery of 114mph too hot for Fritz, who stepped in to attack something slower. Then, at 30-15, Zverev punishes backhands for as long as it takes, then a wild forehand hands him the game and 5-5 in the first.
Another quick hold, this time for Fritz, and at 5-4 Zverev’s under a bit of scoreboard pressure.
“I think this is one of those ‘charming’ cultural quirks best enjoyed at a distance,” says Kevin Simons of the surnames as first name thing, “and I reckon you would quickly tire of the bearded tech bros and their armies of little Jacksons, Dylans, and Conors if you lived here.”
I can’t bring myself to ever object to a Dylan.
A love hold for Zverev, levelling the set at 4-4, and between games he goes to remonstrate with the umpire, over what I’m not sure. The court, says Laura Robson, isn’t playing as livelililily as earlier and it’s not as hot either, not that the rallies here are especially sapping.
You don’t see many players win matches without breaking – Stich beating Edberg 4-6 7-6 7-6 7-6 at Wimbledon in 1991 is the only one I can recall. And as I seek out the video, Fritz holds easily again for a 4-3 lead.
Zverev has landed 15/17 first serves, but at 40-15, a net-cord takes the ball away from him and he’s under a soupçon of pressure. And Fritz scents opportunity, stepping into a mahoosive forehand winner for deuce. And what a point comes next, Zverev at the net and Fritz coming in, leaping to divert a backhand overhead over, but not well enough. Zverev seals advantage then wins the next point too, also at the net – he’s 77% on those currently – and it’s hard to see how either man is broken, though presumably one will be at some point.
An ace gives Friz 30-0, then two monstrous forehands, one to each side and the second cleaning the line, give him 3-2. He’s playing the better or at least the closer to his best, which is also to say that if he doesn’t win this set, he’ll have a problem as big as his serve.
Up 15-0, Zverev sends down a double, then a lovely drop, beautifully disguised because who expects that from Fritz, makes 15-30. Then, though it’s soon 30-all, a rat-a-tat net-exchange, Zverev unable to finish on various occasions, means he’s facing the first break-point of the match … and Fritz nets a backhand when handily positioned to punish a weak approach. And from there, Zverev closes out, Feritz drawing him in with a flat forehand but unable to land the backhand pass down the line; 2-2 it is.
Imagine GBGing the men’s Wimbledon finals of the 90s; what would you have to describe apart from serves and the occasional volley? This might be a little like that, just without the volleys – though, as I type, Zverev claws back from 40-15 to deuce. There is, though, no real sense of an imminent break, and Fritz Taylor powers through deuce to lead 2-1 in the first.
An easier hold for Zverev, who sends down two aces and only one second serve. We knew it’d be like this; it’s like this and 1-1 in the first.
Fritz holds to 30, a bit nervy but not so much he can’t get it done. I love how much Americans love surnames as first names, and love it even more when they’ve a first name for a surname. He leads 1-0.
First set, Taylor Fritz to serve … ready, play.
Zverev is, of course, the better player, but Fritz thinks he can do it, and belief added to his serve and forehand make him a very potent threat. He’ll be looking to hit down the line to Zverev’s forehand, while Zverev will, as Calv says, do his usual thing of serving big and creaming backhands. One thing I will say, though, is that his volleying has improved massively in recent times, whereas Fritz still has hands of stone.
How will this one go? Here’s Coach Calv! “Could be close but unlikely to be entertaining. They played at Wimbledon, Fritz won. Tactically nothing that interesting. As usual Zverev will roll his forehand slowly in court and hope he can hustle through on his serve and BH.”
Here come Fritz and Zverev. This should be good…
Badosa looked close to tears by the end of that but she’ll come again – this is just the start of her as a big noise. The crowd and occasion got to her, but it’s understandable that, after all she’s been through, the enormity of it all was too much when things were tense, or when they were expected of her – at the start, then when she had to serve out for a decider. The feelings she’s been feeling will stay with her for a while, but I hope that, when she’s calmed down, she’ll realise that just being here was a triumph – I know elite sportsfolk don’t work like that but still – and getting to the last eight shows how fantastic she is. I can’t wait to see her in Melbourne.
Next on Ashe: Tayor Fritz (12) v Alexander Zverev (4).
I can’t lie, I feel slightly robbed of a thrilling denouement. And I feel for Badosa, who played some terrific stuff to get here and just as she was in control, allowed the occasion to get big on her. But well played Emma Navarro: she might’ve tanked the end of set two to prepare for set three but is now so confident and so good, she backed herself to deal with things in two. I think we’ve a new fixture at the top of the women’s game; good.