Carlos Alcaraz ends Frances Tiafoe's dream run at US Open to reach final against Casper Ruud

Despite playing into the early morning hours in his previous two five-set matches, the 19-year-old showed no signs of fatigue on Friday, racing around the court to win the hard-fought battle. "We are in a semi-final at a Grand Slam and we have to give everything we have inside, we have to fight until the last ball," Alcaraz said in an on-court interview.

"It doesn't matter if we are fighting for five hours, six hours. You have to give everything on court. Frances gave everything on court. This is amazing."

If he can beat Ruud, Alcaraz would become the youngest man to be crowned world number one, breaking the mark set by Australian Lleyton Hewitt, who was 20 when he became the world's top ranked player in 2001.

The win ends Big Foe's run at the tournament, where his unlikely success and uniquely American life story captivated fans and brought out luminaries including former first lady Michelle Obama to Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday night.

No American man has hoisted a Grand Slam trophy since Andy Roddick won the U.S. Open in 2003, and Tiafoe was the first Black American man to reach the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows since the late Hall of Famer Ashe did so in 1972.

"This one really, really hurts," Tiafoe said in an on-court interview. "Too good from Carlos. You're going to win a lot of Grand Slams, you're a hell of a player, a hell of a person. I'm happy I got to share the court on such a big stage with you.

"I am going to come back and I will win this thing one day. I'm sorry guys."

Tiafoe, whose parents fled civil war in Sierra Leone and who was exposed to the sport when his father worked as a caretaker at a tennis center in Maryland, had the sold-out crowd in his corner, especially after he saved a match point