Frances Tiafoe ended up losing after he thought he was about to beat Taylor Fritz at the US Open

NEW YORK (AP) — Frances Tiafoe figures he lost to Taylor Fritz at the U.S. Open because it suddenly occurred to him Friday night that he was close to winning and reaching his first Grand Slam final.

“In the past matches, before, I was only thinking about what it takes to win,” Tiafoe said, “rather than think about what’s potentially ahead.”

Tiafoe came within two games of claiming a victory in his all-American semifinal at Flushing Meadows, but dealt with a mix of cramps and nerves that played a role in his winding up on the short end of the 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 result against Fritz.

“Oh, man. It’s tough. It’s really, really tough. Really, really tough to swallow. This one’s gonna hurt really, really bad,” said Tiafoe, who also lost in five sets in the U.S. Open semifinals two years ago against Carlos Alcaraz. “I mean, I thought I was the better player, for sure, tonight.”

He was for a lot of the match, and after taking a two-sets-to-one lead, he was in good shape at 4-all in the fourth. But two consecutive double-faults helped hand Fritz that set, part of a six-game run that completely changed things.

“Here I was, really in a position, to win, to see ahead — was almost able to be in that position,” Tiafoe said.

“Just had some in-and-out cramps,” he explained. “I just felt like my body just kind of shut down on me.”

Tiafoe, who is from Maryland, and Fritz, from California, are both 26 and have known each other for more than a decade.

But Fritz said he couldn’t pick up any signs that Tiafoe was in distress.

“He did an incredibly good job of not showing me, to be honest,” said Fritz, who will face No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy in Sunday’s final.

That will be Fritz’s debut in a Grand Slam title match.

It could have been Tiafoe’s.

“I just got ahead of myself. This stinks a bit — not a bit. This stinks a lot,” Tiafoe said. “But I’m going to learn from it and I will be better going forward, for sure.”

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis