American tennis reaches 21-year high at U.S. Open

A day after Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe and Emma Navarro punched their tickets into the 2024 U.S. Open semifinals, Jessica Pegula followed suit by besting World No. 1 Iga Swiatek in their quarterfinal tie on Wednesday.

The sequence of results meant that four of the eight semifinalists at this year's U.S. Open will be from the host nation — a feat not achieved by American-born players since the 2003 edition of the major.

At the 2003 U.S. Open, only one of the four Americans advanced to play for the trophy, with Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati and Andre Agassi suffering losses in their semifinal matches. However, the only player who advanced, Andy Roddick, beat Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final to capture his first slam. Incidentally, his win marked the last time an American man won any major, let alone the U.S. Open.

This year, one American man is guaranteed to be in the final , with Fritz and Tiafoe set to collide in an all-American semifinal on Friday. There's no such guarantee on the women's side as Navarro and Pegula face tough tests against World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka and Karolina Muchova, respectively, in the semifinals.

According to oddsmakers , Sabalenka and Pegula are favored to win their respective semifinals, meaning there's a chance at least one American man and woman will vie for the trophies this weekend.

Pegula — who enters her first major semifinal — already has an opponent in mind for her potential final on Saturday. In an interview with ESPN's "SC with SVP," Pegula revealed she was "inspired" to make the final four after watching Fritz, Tiafoe and Navarro holding their end of the bargain a day earlier.

"I hope we can make it an all-American final. That would be absolutely amazing," Pegula said after her win on Wednesday. "I'm super excited for the men's side, too. To be able to see those guys — I've played a lot of events with them and know them really well. They definitely inspired me, as well as Emma, to try and get through today [against Swiatek]. I'm just happy I was able to secure that fourth spot."

Pegula and Navarro will play their semifinal matches in the night sessions at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Thursday. On the men's side, Fritz and Tiafoe will collide at 7 p.m. ET on Friday.