Fritz battles past line-call blooper and Khachanov

Taylor Fritz survived a mid-match dip, a bold fightback from his opponent and even another line-calling malfunction as he beat Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (4) yesterday to reach the semi-finals at Wimbledon for the first time.

- Simon Cambers

The American coasted through the first two sets with some imperious serving, not facing a single break point, only to dip markedly in the third to allow Khachanov back into the match. However, after falling a break behind early in the fourth set, the No 5 seed rediscovered his focus and played a near flawless tie-break to advance to a clash with the defending champion, Carlos Alcaraz.

"It's an amazing feeling," said Fritz, who hit 16 aces. "Having played the quarter-finals here twice and lost in five [sets] twice, I don't think I could have taken another one. I'm really happy I'm going to get to play the semis here. I'm feeling great to get through it. I've never really had a match just flip so quickly, so I'm really happy how I came back in the fourth set and got it done. Momentum was not going to be on my side in the fifth."