Taylor Fritz overcomes medical timeout and rogue tech to reach Wimbledon semis
The American will take on back-to-back champion Carlos Alcaraz for a place in Sunday's final.
Soaking it all in 🙌#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/lpnqhwgSsy
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 8, 2025
'I'm feeling great to get through it,' Fritz said in his on-court interview.
'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 felt I couldn't miss and then all of sudden I'm making a ton of mistakes.
'Momentum was definitely not going to be on my side going into a fifth.'
In another embarrassing episode for tournament organisers, Wimbledon's faltering electronic line calling system suffered a further malfunction during the quarter-final.
'Fault' was incorrectly called by the technology in the opening game of the fourth set when a Fritz backhand landed well inside the baseline.
With the system still tracking the initial serve, chair umpire Louise Azemar-Engzell ordered the point be replayed.
Khachanov had won the previous two meetings between the pair but those victories came three months apart more than five years ago when he was the higher-ranked player.
Fritz has been a US Open finalist since then and demonstrated his prowess on grass with three Eastbourne titles.
A break of serve in game two paved the way for the Californian to cruise to the opening set in 33 minutes.
"I'm really happy with how I've turned my career around."
After losing in the #Wimbledon QF twice, Taylor Fritz is now in his first semi-final at SW19 👏 pic.twitter.com/x5OZbeNrGu
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 8, 2025
Khachanov barely had sniff on his opponent's serve and, after surviving four break points earlier in the set, he crucially failed to hold in game nine as Fritz won 12 points in a row to move 2-0 in front.
With the finish line coming into view, Fritz began to waver.
Underdog Khachanov finally broke in game two of set three and then sparked hope of a fightback by promptly repeating the feat en route to emphatically halving his deficit.
Fritz underwent treatment on his right foot ahead of the fourth set, which began in farcical fashion due to the inaccurate line call.
A decider then looked on the cards when Khachanov broke immediately as his rival continued to make mistakes.
Taylor's Triumphant 😤
Fritz wins in four and awaits the winner of Alcaraz and Norrie in the SF 👀#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/W1Sunqie0E
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 8, 2025
But Fritz regained his poise to hit back in game four before holding his nerve in the tie-break, which he secured with a smash, leading to a roar of delight, mixed with relief.
'Having played the quarter-finals here twice and lost in five (sets) twice, I don't think I could've taken another one,' he said.
The 27-year-old also allayed fears about the severity of his foot issue.
'It's totally fine, it's pretty common, a lot of players do this tape job so your foot doesn't get irritated,' he said.
'I think I ripped it off at some point in the second so I just needed to get it re-done.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Rhyl Journal
2 hours ago
- Rhyl Journal
This is not a fulfilling life – Scottie Scheffler questions why he chases majors
The most successful and consistent golfer of the last four years appeared to be having some kind of existential crisis as he spoke to the media at Royal Portrush on Tuesday ahead of the 153rd Open Championship – for which he is favourite. Scheffler said winning golf tournaments, which he has done 21 times at various levels – including an Olympic gold medal last year – did not satisfy him. 'This is not a fulfilling life. It's fulfilling from the sense of accomplishment but it's not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest places of your heart,' the 29-year-old American said. Scottie Scheffler just gave one of the best (and deepest) press conference answers ever heard. — Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) July 15, 2025 'There's a lot of people that make it to what they thought was going to fulfil them in life, and you get there, you get to number one in the world, and they're like, 'What's the point?' 'I really do believe that because, what is the point? Why do I want to win this tournament so bad? That's something that I wrestle with on a daily basis. 'Showing up at the Masters every year it's like, 'Why do I want to win this golf tournament so badly? Why do I want to win The Open Championship so badly?' 'I don't know because if I win it's going to be awesome for two minutes, then we're going to get to the next week and it's, 'Hey, you won two majors this year; how important is it for you to win the FedEx Cup play-offs?' 'It feels like you work your whole life to celebrate winning a tournament for like a few minutes. It only lasts a few minutes, that kind of euphoric feeling.' A post shared by Scottie Scheffler (@ Scheffler has won three times this year, has one runner-up finish and eight other top-10s in 15 events. He has not finished outside the top 25 this season, not missed a cut since the FedEx St Jude Classic in August 2022 and has PGA Tour career earnings of nearly US dollars 88million (£65.4m), but admits if golf ever started impacting his family he would immediately quit. 'I'm blessed to be able to come out here and play golf, but if my golf ever started affecting my home life or it ever affected the relationship I have with my wife or my son, that's going to be the last day that I play out here for a living,' he added. 'This is not the be-all and end-all. This is not the most important thing in my life. That's why I wrestle with, why is this so important to me? 'Because I'd much rather be a great father than I would be a great golfer. At the end of the day, that's what's more important to me.'
Rhyl Journal
2 hours ago
- Rhyl Journal
Xander Schauffele trying to ‘piece way back' ahead of Open defence
A year ago the 31-year-old added the Claret Jug to his US PGA title in a stellar season which also brought 13 other top-10 finishes. However, a rib injury in December restricted him to just one appearance in the first three months of this year and any hope he had of continuing his momentum was lost. 'Going from on top of the moon to, you know, knocked off completely, it's a humbling thing for sure,' Schauffele told the PA news agency at an event for sponsors Callaway in Portrush's famous Harbour Bar. 'Winning my first major, getting the monkey off my back, came at a perfect time – if you want to, call it a perfect storm. 'Feeling completely free and playing unbelievable golf, it's a pretty dangerous thing so I felt like I was riding that wave. 'So I'm just trying to piece my way back, gain a little bit of confidence each and every week with each and every shot to be honest.' His confidence received a boost with only his second top-10 finish in 12 events at last week's Scottish Open. Performing well on a links course was ideal preparation for the defence of the Claret Jug he won at Troon, but the American does not really view it in that manner. 'It's a strange thing to defend when the venue changes. When I handed over the Claret Jug on Monday morning it felt like a defence, but when I'm on the property I'm not remembering the shots I hit when I won,' added Schauffele. 'I'm trying to relearn the course, learn how far the ball's going, what the winds are doing, what bunkers you can and can't hit it in. So it's a weird thing.' A new name has been added to the Claret Jug 🏆 What a moment for @XSchauffele! — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 21, 2024 What does not change, however, is the fact he has two majors under his belt to give him valuable experience. He said: 'I don't think it hurts. I think it's one of those things where, if I can get myself in a position, I've done it twice now. There'll be a pack of guys who have done it more than that and then there'll be a pack of guys who've never done it. 'So it'll give me a slight advantage in that moment, but we're far away from that and I'm trying to focus on some small things to start. 'My advantage will be if I can put myself in a good position come the weekend.' Schauffele admitted he liked to focus on the future and not dwell on previous victories. As a result he does not have a trophy room at home and does not even know where his gold medal from the 2020 Olympics is. A post shared by Xander Schauffele (@xanderschauffele) 'What am I going to do with it? I don't really invite people over to my house. Am I just going to go look at it myself? That's the way I feel about it,' he told a press conference. 'At some point I'm sure I'll look back on my career, but I don't have any trophies at my house. I don't really think about winning. 'I don't want to walk into a trophy room and be like 'Look how great I am'.'
Daily Record
3 hours ago
- Daily Record
Open legend gives Bob MacIntyre the ultimate Portrush seal of approval as Scot insists he'll stick to his 'little rules'
Sir Nick Faldo believes the test is ideal for the Scot and home stars and US Open experience will stand him in good stead Open legend Sir Nick Faldo has given Bob MacIntyre the Portrush seal of approval. The three-time winner believes the Scottish star is amongst the genuine contenders to win The 153rd Championship after his brilliant Oakmont showing. MacIntyre's runner-up finish to JJ Spaun at the US Open last month caught the eye of Faldo who believes it will have acted as a key stepping stone for the Oban hero. The English legend said: 'I think what happened in the US Open was big for him. Suddenly he had a chance where he thought: Oh, I could win this. I was watching from afar and, after day two, I thought: Two over could win this. You've got guys at five-under, but we all know the US Open, everybody comes back in the weekend. 'I bet he thought that for a moment, so that probably was good for him. I bet he had a good couple of hours when he thought, I could do this. So that's a different feeling in your body and your mind, isn't it? And how you're playing. So I bet he's looking forward to this week. It seems that it's going to be nice temperature, but we're going to get plenty of good weather, aren't we? We're going to get wind and rain and all sorts of things. 'So it's got to suit the Scottish and Irish boys this week. We're used to playing in that. It's a different wind, such a heavy wind here being on the coast. You've got to know what you're doing and how to do it.' MacIntyre says he'll relish the conditions and stated: 'For me, it's the purest method of the game that we've got, links golf. So many different ways to play it. It's not just 155 yards, pitch it 155 yards, keep it two yards right of the pin. It's not that. It's the unpredictability of what that's going to give us. 'You could tee off at 8am, beautiful sunshine and then at 8.15am there's a storm coming in, you're playing and the wind switched. It's just unpredictable with the weather, unpredictable with the bounces. I think that's what I love about it, that if you're out of position, I've got little rules that I keep. 'In links golf it gets pretty easy with there's certain things you cannot do and there's certain things you have to do. I think it's the best way to play golf is links golf. A lot of guys that I watch that haven't played it as much as I have make the mistakes, and then I'm looking at it going, you cannot do that. 'But, as for me, sometimes you can hit certain shots, but you're actually walking up there going, that's all right, that's all right, we've got a chance from there. I just love it and I think that's why I've been brought up in it. I play it less now, and I think I enjoy it more now than I've ever done it.'
