Taylor Fritz reaches first semifinal at Wimbledon

No. 5 Taylor Fritz advanced to the semifinals of Wimbledon for the first time by defeating No. 17 Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(4) on Tuesday in London.

Fritz twice had lost in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, dropping five-setters to Rafael Nadal in 2022 and Lorenzo Musetti in 2024. The 27-year-old has 10 ATP Tour titles but has yet to win a major.

In his on-court interview after the match, Fritz said it was a relief to get past his Russian opponent in the two-hour, 36-minute match.

"It's an amazing feeling," the native Californian said in his on-court interview. "Obviously having played the quarterfinals here twice and lost in five (sets) twice, I don't think I could have taken another one. So I'm really happy I'm going to get to play the semis here."

Fritz had 16 aces among his 47 winners to go with 31 unforced errors.

Nerves seemed to strike in the third set, when Khachanov broke Fritz's serve twice and ran up 29 total points, compared to 15 for Fritz.

"I'm feeling great to get through it," said Fritz. "I feel like the match was going so well for me for two sets. I've never had a match really just flip so quickly, so I'm really happy with how I came back in the fourth set and got it done. I think the momentum was definitely not going to have been on my side going into a fifth."

Fritz will be playing in his second semifinal at a major. At the 2024 U.S. Open, he defeated fellow American Frances Tiafoe in a five-set semi, then dropped the final to Italian No. 1 Jannik Sinner in straight sets.

In the semis on Friday, Fritz will meet the winner of Tuesday's later quarterfinal match between No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain and Brit Cameron Norrie.