French Open champion Alexander Zverev is through to his third consecutive major semifinal after defeating Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 in the Wimbledon quarterfinals Wednesday.
Fritz, the No. 6 seed, was the last American man remaining in the draw. His loss marks a 90th straight major without an American man winning the title since Andy Roddick's 2003 US Open run, extending what was already the longest major championship drought for the U.S. men in tennis history.
Fritz received a medical timeout for treatment on his right knee in the second set. He later said the knee started bothering him three games into the match.
"I mean, preface what I'm saying by -- I don't know what kind of difference it would have made in the match," Fritz said. "He's going to be extremely tough to beat the way he's serving."
Fritz, 28, had won his previous seven matches against Zverev, his last loss to him coming in the Rome quarterfinals in May 2024.
"I hope to play two more matches here," Zverev said. "We'll see how that goes, but for now extremely happy to be in semifinal and especially [winning] against Taylor, who I haven't beat for two years.
"I knew I had to play a flawless match, a perfect match, and I think I did that."
Zverev will be making his first Wimbledon semifinal appearance, becoming the fifth active men's player to reach the semifinals at all four majors, joining Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Marin Cilic.
Zverev improved to 17-1 in major matches this year, having reached the semifinals in Australia and winning his first Grand Slam in Paris. He has 25 career ATP titles but has never won one on grass.
The only men in the Open era to earn their first career grass-court title at Wimbledon are Michael Stich (1991), Andre Agassi (1992) and Djokovic (2011).
Zverev will face British hope Arthur Fery, a wild card who knocked out No. 9 seed Flavio Cobolli in straight sets on Centre Court, in the semifinals Friday.
Multiple roars for Fery from The Hill were heard inside No. 1 Court, Wimbledon's other main stadium, where Zverev and Fritz were playing.
Zverev joked with the crowd afterward, "Cobolli won, really? It's OK, you guys can all be for Fery, I understand it."
Zverev recalled being impressed by Fery's win over Cobolli in Melbourne.
"I watched that match. I was very impressed back then already. He has a very clean technique and very clean groundstrokes," Zverev said in his postmatch news conference.
Friday will be his first tour-level match against Fery.
"It's going to be a great atmosphere," the 29-year-old German said. "Of course, I know that 99% of the people will be cheering for him. But I also enjoy those kind of atmospheres. I enjoy when the energy is very high."
Zverev is ranked No. 3 in the world but is seeded second at Wimbledon due to Alcaraz's injury absence. If Zverev defeats Fery, he will pass Alcaraz to reclaim the No. 2 spot in the ATP rankings Monday for the first time since May of last year.
Friday's other semifinal pits Djokovic, the seven-time Wimbledon champion, against Sinner, the defending champ.
ESPN Research, The Associated Press and PA contributed to this report.
