Cincinnati All-American: Nakashima And Tiafoe In The Semifinals

Brandon Nakashima beat Taylor Fritz 7-6(9), 4-6, 6-3 in two hours and thirteen minutes, and shortly after Frances Tiafoe eliminated Lorenzo Musetti 7-6(2), 7-5. The two meet in the semifinals in Cincinnati, the tournament's first all-American semifinal since Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish in 2010.

Nakashima, the No. 27 seed, won a first set that Fritz had controlled for almost its entirety, closing out the tiebreak 11-9. Down 2-3 in the third after losing his serve, he broke straight back in a marathon game, added another break for 5-3 and served out the match. It's his fourth win of the season over a top 10 player and moves his head-to-head with Fritz to 4-2. From Monday he'll be world No. 16, a new career high.

For Tiafoe it's his first Masters 1000 semifinal in two years. The last one came right here in Cincinnati in 2024, when he reached the final. Against Musetti he struggled to close it out. He served for the match, got pegged back to 5-5, then broke again and won on his fourth match point.

The tournament is delivering a full American week. Nakashima is the first American to reach the semifinals in Canada and Cincinnati in the same season since Fish in 2011, seven days after losing the Montreal final to Ben Shelton. In the women's draw, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula are also in the semifinals, four Americans out of eight overall. The other men's semifinal, Flavio Cobolli against Arthur Fils, remains the only one without a home player.