CNN
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No American has won a Grand Slam singles title since Andy Roddick at the 2003 US Open, but there is now a chance the drought could end this weekend.

An American is guaranteed a place in the US Open final – the first for a Grand Slam final since 2009 – after American star Frances Tiafoe advanced to the semi-finals. His opponent, world number 9 Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, retired with an injury in the fourth set of their quarter-final with Tiafoe leading 6-3, 6-7 (7-5), 6-3, 4-1.

He will play fellow American Taylor Fritz in the semifinals on Friday. Fritz, the highest-ranked American at No. 12, booked his place in his first major semifinal with a 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) win over No. 4 Alexander Zverev of Germany on Tuesday.

Tiafoe, who is ranked 20th and is coming off his best result at a major tournament, had a dream run to the semifinals of the US Open two years ago.

At the 2022 US Open, Tiafoe gave fans hope that he could end the drought of U.S. men’s Grand Slam singles titles by shocking Rafael Nadal in the round of 16 and beating Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals. His run ended in the semifinals, where he lost to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz.

“It’s obviously not the way I want to go through it, but I’m obviously happy with it,” Tiafoe said on the pitch at Arthur Ashe Stadium after Dimitrov’s retirement. “Another semi-final here. Unbelievable.”

Fritz and Tiafoe, both 26, are playing the first all-American men’s singles semifinal at a Grand Slam since Andre Agassi defeated Robby Ginepri at the 2005 US Open. Agassi eventually lost to Roger Federer in the final.

“Friday is going to be a great day,” Tiafoe said.

Roddick is the last American to reach the final of a major singles event. In 2009, he lost the Wimbledon final to Federer, who was in attendance at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday night.

Roddick is the last American to reach the final of the US Open. In 2006 he finished second, also behind Federer.

Before Tuesday, Fritz had already gone 0-4 in the quarter-finals of major competitions.

“You know, it’s cool that I’m in the semifinals,” Fritz told reporters. “But I really have the mentality of, you know, the job’s not done yet, and I’m just going to take it one match at a time like I’m totally into the tournament and focused on the next match.

“I think I came out of it differently today because I’ve just been in this situation enough times. I think pretty much every time I’ve lost in my quarterfinals, I’ve been asked the question, ‘What do I need to do to move forward?’ The answer I’ve always given is, keep putting myself in these situations and I’ll get more comfortable and I’ll get better.”

Meanwhile, Dimitrov, who at 33 was the oldest remaining singles player, was attempting to reach his first major semi-final since the 2019 US Open.

At the end of the third set he appeared to suffer an injury, called the coach over and signaled to his team that it was over.

The Bulgarian left the court for treatment and returned for the fourth set. Despite clearly being ill, Dimitrov tried to finish the match before retiring after five games.

It is the second Grand Slam match in a row in which he has to retire. He had to retire in the first set of the round of 16 at Wimbledon against Daniil Medvedev due to a groin injury.

“I think it’s a combination of everything,” Dimitrov, who needed three hours and 39 minutes to see off Rublev in five sets in the previous round, told reporters about what led to his retirement against Tiafoe.

“Obviously my recovery process is a bit slower than before. I mean, I felt a few things before the game.

“But again, given all the circumstances… I wasn’t really sure if I could do it as well as I wanted to. And that’s what I’m saying: I would take this quarter-final at any time.

“I don’t want to discredit the game that Frances played as well. I mean, he pushed me a lot to work extra hard as well, so I mean, he definitely deserves the credit.”