Frances Tiafoe’s US Open run continues as he beats Grigor Dimitrov and will face Taylor Fritz in all-American semifinal

During Tuesday’s US Open quarterfinal between Frances Tiafoe and Grigor Dimitrov, the cameras in Arthur Ashe Stadium repeatedly focused on five-time tournament winner Roger Federer. It was as if the question was: Who will take on the challenge and go down in history with him?

The last two winners, Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, have already been eliminated and although world number 1 Jannik Sinner is still playing, the competition is certainly more open now than in previous years.

Tiafoe may not be the favorite to go all the way, but he made sure he stayed in the race with a convincing 6-3, 6-7, 6-3, 4-1 victory over the eventually retired Dimitrov to set up an all-American semifinal against Taylor Fritz.

Despite the experience of the 33-year-old Dimitrov, it was the 26-year-old Tiafoe who looked the most confident, starting the match more aggressively and proving unbeatable with his serve all evening.

Dimitrov’s age also showed itself in another way towards the end of the match. Towards the end of the third set he seemed to pick up an injury and from then on he looked weak at times.

However, for Tiafoe it is his second semi-final at the US Open and he still deserves credit for the way he handled the world number 9.

Tiafoe had already successfully defeated some tough fighters like Ben Shelton and Alexei Popyrin earlier in the tournament, but the question was how he would deal with Dimitrov, a more cunning opponent known for his backhand slice.

However, the Maryland native passed that test convincingly, holding on against a potentially momentum-sapping second-set tiebreak defeat to advance to his second US Open semi-final.

He gave Dimitrov an early warning signal when he led the Bulgarian’s first two service games to deuce, while Dimitrov had appeared passive and sloppy in the first set.

Tiafoe couldn’t handle the blow at that moment, but he did on his next chance after a volley into the net. He raised his fist in the air towards the crowd at Arthur Ashe, who didn’t want their summer love to end with him.

It wasn’t long before he got another break, won the set and took control of the match.

In the second set he faced a stronger opponent: Dimitrov, who had seemed a bit of a passer-by earlier in the match.

While Tiafoe again took an early break in the match to take a 3-1 lead, the world number 9 came back to reduce the lead to 4-3.

The Bulgarian, who made 16 unforced errors in the first set, looked a lot more energetic in the second set as his slice backhand began to hamper Tiafoe and extend rallies. The results would soon become clear.

He crucially survived a break at 4-4 with a final drop shot at the net – a moment that showed the kind of cunning Tiafoe struggled with. But the American was up to the challenge of playing that kind of game, winning the next game with a backhand slice of his own, before both players eventually held serve twice more to set up a crucial tiebreak.

There it was Dimitrov who barely withstood the pressure and built up a 7-5 lead after making two double faults at 6-3, when Tiafoe doubled himself up to end the set.

His service problems proved prophetic as he double-faulted on two of the last three points of the third set after Tiafoe had already earned a break to take a 3-2 lead.

And his service problems reared their ugly heads again when he took the second game of the fourth set to deuce on a double fault – and after that there was no turning back.