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Jack Draper

So there you have it, the 2024 US Open Tennis Men’s semi-final day at Arthur Ashe Stadium was a joy to watch – one was Jannik Sinner so dominant & top good for Jack Draper while Taylor Fritz held back strong v Francis Tiafoe after a long five sets out of the best American winner. 

Now it’s the current Australian Open champ Sinner v the ever improving American Fritz for Sunday’s big Final (Monday 4am) with Aryna Sabalenka v USA’s own Jessica Pegula up first for the women’s main event tomorrow (6am).

Semi-Final Match 1

First of all, it was never an easy game when playing at a top-notch semi for the first time by the rising Brit in Draper, who defeated our Aussie own Alex De Minaur in the quarters the other day. He had some great moments to begin with the first two sets where he was so close to tying Sinner 1-1 but was underwhelming for the majority unfortunately, having lost the first set for the first time in this tournament before being quickly wiped out in the end. 

Meanwhile, we haven’t heard much for a while from Sinner but he still had a terrific year though including today’s semi v Draper, as this will be his 2nd grand slam final also on a hard court. Gotta say he was at his best where his next match v Fritz is going to be as good as it gets. He was tested with great difficulty by the Brit before Sinner won all two sets with a 2-0 lead and the Italian simply wrapped up the game without a fuss to book his next biggest match yet in three straight sets.

Semi-Final Match 2

Now this second semi was the one Americans long wanted to see in front of a brilliant crowd including some celebrity guests with both Americans who played one stellar of a match. But again, one can go through to Sunday’s Final which Fritz won while another will have to be eliminated from the last four in Tiafoe.

Commiserations to Tiafoe having made a good start alongside some brilliant fight to try and keep himself in the game with the first and 3rd set wins. It’s a shame he began to have slipped away in the 4th and even 5th sets before it was too late unfortunately. It would’ve been great if Tiafoe kept on pressuring Fritz as if Tiafoe was closer towards activating match point; But at the end of the day, you’re looking at a fighter who always been there & done that at major finals before in Fritz.

And congrats to Fritz on a stunning win from behind to beat Tiafoe as he’s the next American to play in a US Open men’s final since 2003 winner Andy Roddick back in 2006. Sure he had some near set wins & had Fritz won it, the match would’ve finished like the first semis game but this is about someone who never gives up. All he wanted to do is walk away was the win to punch his ticket into the main event & he has done it in the toughest of circumstances where he will be tested once again in the hope of finally winning his home grand slam v Sinner after his ever-improving 2024 season at age 26.

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It wasn’t the match we hoped for when Alex De Minaur took centre stage on what has been another grand slam Quarter-Final of 2024 this time in the US Open & got easily beaten in straight sets by Briton Jack Draper at Arthur Ashe Stadium. 

But proud to see him make back-to-back-to-back grand slam quarter-finals this year outside the Australian Open though where he fell short to Andrey Rublev in the Round of 16 tie back in January. Had he won this game, it would’ve still been difficult to walk into the semis either way by going up between the last Quarter-Final winner that’s going to start later on of Jannik Sinner (Italy) or Daniil Medvedev.

Yes, he’s getting back up to speed after that hip injury that ruled him out of the Wimbledon Quarter-Final match two months ago v Novak Djokovic. But as said, he simply wasn’t at his best today other than close 2nd set performance. 

Keep an eye on him going into next week with the Australian Davis Cup campaign against France & Czech Republic over in Valencia, Spain. He’s the glue to where the Aussies went all the way to back-to-back Finals in November last year and two years ago and hopefully he will help them go one better, so he can walk into Australian Open 2025 with an eye for a Quarter-Finals spot for the first time.

For now, Jack Draper is your winner en route to his first major semi-finals at age 22 after a brilliant performance from start to finish in straight sets (6-3, 7-5 & 6-2).

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