As the field shrinks, the spotlight grows at the 2024 US Open. With the start of the quarterfinals Tuesday, the singles action moved exclusively to Arthur Ashe Stadium, where Americans Emma Navarro, Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe each thrilled the home fans with victories.
Navarro and Fritz are both through to their first Grand Slam semifinals, while Tiafoe is into that stage at the US Open for the second time in three years. Joining the American trio in the final four is women’s second seed Aryna Sabalenka, who raced into her fourth straight New York semifinal in the evening opener.
Elsewhere, the doubles draws also sped on toward the trophy rounds. while the US Open Junior Championships saw their third day of play.
Let’s take a trip around the grounds with some of the biggest stories from Tuesday’s US Open action.
Navarro’s ‘perfect’ bounceback
Navarro’s longtime coach Peter Ayers knew his charge was a perfectionist even before he became her primary coach when she was 14. Years ago, Ayers challenged Navarro to apply that perfectionism in a “healthy, sustainable way” by striving for a very specific goal.
“Here’s what I want you to strive to be perfect at,” he recalled telling her, speaking at a Tuesday press conference. “I want you to strive to be perfect at bouncing back. Stuff’s going to happen. You’re competing in tennis; there’s going to be adversity every time you play.
“So instead of worrying about being perfect at a given shot or playing a perfect match in terms of never missing a ball or whatever that may entail… let’s strive to be perfect at bouncing back.”
After a dominant 6-2 opening set against Paula Badosa in the quarters, Navarro—now 23—was presented with an opportunity to put that skill to use on the game’s grandest stage. Down 5-1 and 0-15 in the second, Navarro rattled for four quick points to extend the frame. She would not lose another game in the match, winning 24 of the last 28 points to secure a 6-2, 7-5 victory.
“After I got her back to 5-2, I had a little bit of an inkling that it would be two sets. I just wanted to stay really tough,” Navarro said in her on-court interview. “I always say I can’t see the future, but maybe today I could a little bit.”
She closed by adding: “It’s crazy! Moving onto the semifinals of the US Open, baby!”
‘My time’: Fritz breaks through in fifth Slam QF
This one hit different for Fritz. Playing in his third major quarterfinal of the season—and his fifth since he first advanced to that stage at Wimbledon in 2022—the American was firing on all cylinders in a 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(3) victory over Alexander Zverev.
“I feel amazing. I’ve had a lot of looks at quarterfinals over the past couple of years, but today felt different,” Fritz said in Ashe. “It felt like it was my time to take it a step further, and it’s only fitting that I’m doing it in front of this crowd.”
A closer looks at the IBM Slamtracker stats suggests the match was not as close as the score indicated. Though Fritz won just five more total points (139 to 134) and both men broke serve twice, the American was a constant threat on return, creating 13 break chances to Zverev’s four.
Fritz now has four Top 10 wins at the majors, with all four coming in 2024.
Zverev, for his part, said he was the most angry and frustrated he’s been after a match in a long time.
“I just have no answers right now,” he told the press, lamenting how his typically water-tight backhand let him down. “And don’t say that Taylor didn’t deserve to win. No, he absolutely deserved to win today. I’m not taking anything away from him. He played quite a good match. I did nothing to deserve to win.”
Sabalenka sprints into SFs: ‘Drinks on me!’
The latest leg of Sabalenka’s New York run was more of a sprint past Zheng Qinwen, a 6-1, 6-2 rout that landed her in the New York semifinals for the fourth straight year. If the second seed keeps up this form, she might run all the way to her third major title, and first outside of the Australian Open.
A semifinalist in both 2021 and 2022, Sabalenka reached the US Open final last year, falling to Coco Gauff in three sets. For the first time since that final, she will again meet an American in Ashe: Navarro.
But Sabalenka has a plan to get the New York crowd on her side against the home favorite, who knocked Gauff out in the fouth round: “Drinks on me tonight, guys!” she said in her on-court interview. “And please give me some support in the next match.”
Tiafoe’s win guarantees an American finalist
For the first time since Andy Roddick met Roger Federer in the 2009 Wimbledon championship, an American man will compete in a Grand Slam title match. Tiafoe and Fritz will square off Friday night in the first all-American major semifinal since 2005, when Andre Agassi beat Robby Ginepri.
In the Ashe nightcap, Tiafoe led Grigor Dimitrov, 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3, 4-1, and advanced when the ninth-seeded Bulgarian retired with an upper-leg issue he appeared to aggravate late in set three. While Tiafoe was sad to see Dimitrov stop the match early, he was thrilled with his own performance—and the fact that he will take the New York stage at least one more time.
“You guys get to see me again, against another American, so Friday is going to be one hell of a day,” he said to huge cheers in Ashe.
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