American Taylor Fritz Fails In Bid To Reach First Grand Slam Semifinal At Wimbledon

Taylor Fritz rejoices after taking the first set in the match against Lorenzo Musetti at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships in London. The picture was taken on Wednesday, July 10, 2024 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. (Photo by Jordan Pettitt/PA Images via Getty Images)

Taylor Fritz had a great chance to make it to the semi-finals of a major tennis tournament at Wimbledon for the first time.

Following a surprising victory over No. 4 Alexander Zverev in five sets earlier in the week, the American No. 13 seed found themselves facing off against No. 25 Lorenzo Musetti as the higher ranked player. They were considered the frontrunner to advance to the semi-finals.

But Fritz was unable to secure another victory in a five-set match and ultimately fell to Musetti, with a final score of 3-6, 7-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 after 3 and a half hours of play.

Musetti will be competing against Novak Djokovic, the 24-time Grand Slam champion, in the semifinals on Friday instead of Fritz. Djokovic has a record of 5 wins and 1 loss against Musetti.

Musetti is the only Italian man left in the semifinals after the top seed Jannik Sinner was defeated in the quarterfinals by the fifth seed Daniil Medvedev.

Musetti, who is 22 years old, expressed that he is at a loss for words but is doing his best. He admitted that he has not fully grasped the magnitude of what he has accomplished.

He spoke about Djokovic, saying, "He's a legendary player....It's always a tough match so I anticipate a difficult challenge and believe it will be one of the most difficult matches. However, I am a determined individual and enjoy facing challenges. I will give it my all and we will see what happens."

Djokovic advanced to the semifinals without playing a match as Australian player Alex De Minaur withdrew from the tournament due to a hip injury sustained during his previous match with Arthur Fils.

It has been 82 major tennis championships since an American player claimed victory, with the last win dating back to Andy Roddick's triumph at the 2003 U.S. Open.

Fritz was trying to become only the fourth American man in the past 15 years to make it to the Wimbledon semifinals, following in the footsteps of Roddick in 2009, Sam Querrey in 2017, and John Isner in 2018. The most recent American man to win Wimbledon was Pete Sampras back in 2000.

Musetti seemed hesitant at the beginning, and Fritz managed to break early for a 3-1 lead in the first set. The American then finished off the set with an ace down the middle.

In London, England, on July 10th, Lorenzo Musetti from Italy faced off against Taylor Fritz from the United States in the Men's Singles Quarter Final match at The Championships Wimbledon 2024. The match took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club and was captured in a photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images.

Fritz then took the lead 1-0 in the second set after Musetti hit a forehand shot that went long.

Musetti won the second set tiebreak with a second-serve service winner after Fritz hit the ball into the net.

Following an easy win in the third set, Musetti made a mistake by hitting a forehand shot too far on Fritz's set point in the fourth set. This error led to a decisive fifth set.

However, Musetti dominated the fifth set, taking a commanding lead with a double-break at 4-0 after hitting a backhand slice winner that landed in the open court.

During Musetti's serve at 5-1, 30-15, Fritz's knee gave out and he collapsed on the court.

Musetti sealed the victory on his serve to reach his first ever Grand Slam semifinal.

"I believe I had a wonderful game because Taylor was in top form," Musetti stated. "I am extremely happy to reach my first semi-final at this tournament."

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