Alert – Novak Djokovic beats last American standing Taylor Fritz to set up mouthwatering US Open semifinal with Carlos Alcaraz

Novak Djokovic went to war with the Arthur Ashe crowd and won, taking down Taylor Fritz in four sets to end the home challenge in the men’s singles.

The 22-year wait for an American male Grand Slam champion continues – as does Djokovic quest to win the Holy Grail of a 25th major.

The 38-year-old Serb will take on Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals on Thursday. He will be the underdog, but has beaten the Spaniard in each of their last two meetings – at the n Open and in last year’s Olympic final.

As for Fritz, he is still yet to beat Djokovic after 11 meetings. The 27-year-old broadly played well, but his serve – his major weapon – let him down. He landed only 50 per cent of his first serves and ended the match on a double fault.

Djokovic was missing his daughter Tara’s eighth birthday to be here taking on Fritz, and those are sacrifices he does not make lightly these days. His interest in turning up to the rank and file events is waning by the month – it is only the Grand Slams which can convince him to take time away from his family.

Fritz walked on to court with his tennis luggage and a good deal of mental baggage, too, having lost all 10 previous meetings with his opponent.

Novak Djokovic paid tribute to his daughter with his celebration at the end of the match

That is an awful lot of scar tissue – some mental gymnastics were required to convince himself he had a shot.

‘The first seven or eight times I played him, I just wasn’t a good enough player to really have that much of a chance unless I have the best day ever and he has a bad day,’ said Fritz before this match.

‘Only the last couple times we’ve played have I been a player who can compete and have chances.’

He certainly had his chances.

Both men came dressed for a night session – all in black down to the trainers. Fritz had his Hugo Boss headband on upside down – an attempt to break the jinx?

Or perhaps a sign of pre-match distraction. It was certainly a nervy start by Fritz, conceding a break in his opening service game.

Djokovic had several chances for a decisive second break but Fritz clung on and earned six break points across a sprawling final game of the set. Djokovic saved them all – largely due to a greater willingness to grasp the nettle and go after the point.

Fritz had said before this match, of facing an elite player such as Djokovic: ‘They’re not going to give it to you in those moments. You have to go and take it.’

As Djokovic served for the second set Fritz hit a blistering return and Djokovic obliged with a double fault and a netted forehand volley. It was 0-40 and three more break points.

A big serve and the Fritz break point tally was now the same as the head to head: 0-10. Then, at last, Djokovic coughed up the error Fritz had been guilty of waiting for, netting a drop shot to make it 5-5.

Taylor Fritz was left disappointed by his performance, losing an 11th straight match vs Djokovic

Finally Fritz had a foothold in the match – and he tripped himself up, a brace of double faults conceding the break.

As Djokovic served out the match he blew a couple of kisses to the crowd, which was strange because this was far from a pro-American bear pit. Djokovic had plenty of support but it was as if he needed to invent the fiction of having the crowd baying for his blood, to fire himself up.

Fritz headed off court and emerged with his attire correct this time – he had turned his headband around… but could he do the same with the match?

Early in the third set, as they have been doing periodically, ESPN spoke to one of the coaches mid-match. Fritz’s coach Michael Russell spoke with extraordinary candor, saying: ‘The 5-5 game was atrocious. A donation. That’s why we sent him off court (after the second set).

‘He’s giving Novak too much credit – just stay in the rally and find a forehand to go after. A lot of it is psychological, he has lost to him 10 times, but it’s the US Open – get the crowd involved and just relax.’

Fritz’s model girlfriend Morgan Riddle was once again courtside to watch his US Open match

The crowd certainly did get involved, but that had more to do with Djokovic than Fritz.

As the atmosphere strained and stretched, Djokovic became frustrated at the voices repeatedly calling out before his serves.

He approached umpire Damien Dumusois, asking him to do more to get them to pipe down. ‘What are you going to say?’ he asked the Frenchman. ‘”Thank you, please, thank you, please”. Explain a little bit more.’

Djokovic was needlessly distracted – ‘It’s self-inflicted,’ said McEnroe on commentary – and as his focus wavered, Fritz’s narrowed. The American broke and then held in a blink of an eye for 4-1.

Djokovic made a very late decision to change his racket before the next game, eliciting more boos from the crowd.

Fritz closed out the set, just the fourth he had ever won against Djokovic. Game on.

Djokovic rolled back the years to book his spot in yet another Grand Slam semifinal, at 37

Midway through the fourth set we were three hours in and now physicality began to come into the equation. Djokovic had received medical attention to his lower back in both of his previous rounds, and admitted at Wimbledon that the wear-and-tear of five-set combat is telling on his body ‘like never before’.

The deeper Fritz could take the match, one felt, the better his chances would become.

But when the home hero served to stay in the match at 4-5, Djokovic pounced – but Fritz was ready for him. At 0-30, 15-40 and 30-40 Fritz played three phenomenal points.

Two match points saved, and quite brilliantly. But on the third, a double fault sent Djokovic through to a meeting with Alcaraz – and what a match that promises to be.