Tiafoe, Fritz and Navarro boost domestic hopes for the US Open title

Tiafoe also made it to the last four in 2022, while Fritz reached his first Grand Slam semifinal by defeating fourth seed Alexander Zverev 7-6 (7/2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3).

Navarro, playing in front of a home crowd in New York, made her breakthrough into her first Grand Slam semifinal by defeating Spaniard Paula Badosa 6-2, 7-5 after recovering from a 5-1 deficit in the second set.

She will face world number two and reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka, who swept Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen 6-1, 6-2.

With Tiafoe and Fritz meeting on Friday, the United States is assured of a home finalist in the men's tournament for the first time since 2006, when Andy Roddick was defeated by Roger Federer.

Roddick remains the last American to win a Grand Slam when he won the 2003 US Open.

“I didn't want to win like that, even though I'm happy to have reached the semifinals,” Tiafoe said of Dimitrov's injury.

“It was a very high level match. You will see me against another American, it will be great.”

“It will be the biggest game of our careers.”

The 33-year-old Dimitrov sought treatment off the court after the third set, but he had to resort to walking pace in the fourth set and his hopes faded.

The Bulgarian declined to comment on the details of his injury after he had to abandon his round of 16 match at Wimbledon in July due to thigh problems.

“I think it's a combination of everything. I think there's really no point in talking about it. It's just the game and I have to keep my head up,” he said.

Zverev's loss to Fritz means that world number one Jannik Sinner is the only top-four player left in men's tennis after the surprise early exits of Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz.

“I have played in quarterfinals at Grand Slam tournaments a few times over the years, so I felt it was time to take a step further,” said 26-year-old Fritz, who hit 12 aces among his 45 winners in his victory.

“It's cool that I'm in the semifinals. But I think the work is not done yet.”

The German Zverev had tried to reach his ninth Grand Slam semifinal and his third in New York.

“Terrible. Just absolutely terrible of me,” he said of his performance. “I did nothing to deserve the win, it's as simple as that.”

Navarro insisted she always believed she could overcome a 5-1 second-set deficit against New York-born Badosa.

“When it was 5-2, I knew I was going to win in straight sets,” said Navarro, who lost in the first round in her only other two appearances at the tournament.

“I was a total disaster today,” said Badosa after making 35 unforced errors.

Zheng was aiming to become the third Chinese woman to reach the semifinals of the US Open after Li Na in 2013 and Peng Shuai in 2014.

However, she was completely defeated by Sabalenka in a 73-minute defeat and managed only nine winners.

Zheng said the record-breaking late finish to her round of 16 match, which ended at 2:15 a.m. on Monday, affected her performance. She said she didn't go to bed until 5:00 a.m.

“I couldn't sleep after the game ended at 2:30 a.m. I couldn't train yesterday because I felt terrible,” Zheng said.

Sabalenka, 26, who finished runner-up to Coco Gauff in New York last year, will play her fourth consecutive US Open semifinal and her ninth Grand Slam semifinal.

The Belarusian also defeated Zheng at the same stage of the 2023 US Open before defeating the 21-year-old again in the Australian Open final in January.

“It was important that I made the early break, that was an advantage because it is tough to play against her,” said Sabalenka.