Djokovic whips Fritz; Shelton blasts way past Tiafoe Muchova beats Cirstea to face Gauff in semifinals

NEW YORK: Novak Djokovic overcame the heat and engineered a lopsided victory over top-ranked American Taylor Fritz to remain undefeated in the US Open quarterfinals.

Competing in the 34-degree heat on Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday night, the 36-year-old was in no mood to relinquish his streak against Fritz, triumphing 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 to improve to 8-0 in the pair’s ATP Head-to-Head series.

The Serbian, who now holds a perfect 13-0 record in quarter-finals in New York, set an Open-era men’s record of 47 Grand Slam semifinal appearances, surpassing Roger Federer’s mark of 46.

Djokovic, who improved to 8-0 lifetime against Fritz, took command early and never relinquished control as he methodically marched to his 359th Grand Slam singles victory and set a semifinal clash with either tenth-seeded Frances Tiafoe or Ben Shelton.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion is chasing his fourth title at the hard-court Slam, having triumphed in 2011, 2015 and 2018. The Serbian has earned four straight-set wins this fortnight, but was made to battle against Laslo Djere in the third round, rallying from two sets to love down for the eighth time in his career.

The Serbian great, who has won 23 of his past 24 matches, is one win away from reaching the final at all four majors in the same year for the third time in his career (2015, ’21). He is also trying to win three Slams in the same year for the fourth time (2011, 2015, 2021).

Djokovic will reclaim No. 1 in the ATP Rankings on September 11 for a record-extending 390th week regardless of his ultimate result in New York.

The 20-year-old Ben Shelton scripts history at Flushing Meadows after he knocked out countryman Francis Tiafoe in the topsy-turvy quarterfinal.

Shelton needs just one more game to reach his first Grand Slam final after defeating Tiafoe with a 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-2 scoreline.

With Tuesday night’s win, the 20-year-old becomes the youngest American to reach the US Open semifinal since Michael Chang in 1992.

Shelton impressively improved to break into the Top 20 of the ATP live rankings following a heartbreaking first-round loss at the tournament last year when he was rated No. 165.

In the women singles, No. 10 seed Czech player Karolina Muchova advanced to her second hard-court Slam semifinal after defeating Sorana Cirstea 6-0, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.

Muchova has now made the semifinals or better at three of the four majors. She first broke through at the 2020 Australian Open and made her first major final three months ago at Roland Garros.

She will next face No.6 American Coco Gauff on Thursday for a spot in the final.

Thursday’s semifinal will be a rematch of the Cincinnati Masters final just two weeks ago, where Gauff got the better of a fatigued Muchova to win her first WTA 1000 title.

The 19-year-old Coco Gauff of the United States stormed past No. 20 seed Jelena Ostapenko to seal her maiden entry into the women’s singles semifinals at the US Open.

It was a battle between two form players. Ostapenko had caused a major upset in the fourth round by beating world No. 1 Iga Swiatek. Gauff has now won 16 of 17 matches in 35 days. Agencies

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