Nakashima continues historic run after upsetting Fritz at Cincinnati

[p]The American began his post-Wimbledon hardcourt run with a Washington semi-finals, which he lost to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/fritz-taylor/UH09iaZ6/"]Fritz[/a], a run to the final in the Montreal Masters, and now his best showing at Cincinnati - all with the US Open start barely more than a week away.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/nakashima-brandon/ETGnbrpH/"]Nakashima[/a] withstood 22 aces from Fritz - who also bashed 31 unforced errors.[/p][p]Nakashima trailed a break in the third set but broke back to knot it at 3-3 and broke again for a 5-3 lead.[/p][p]He out-hit the powerful Fritz and converted on his first match point with a forehand winner.[/p][embed guid="97241025-cd48-40f9-bfff-9bf977bac464" url="https://x.com/TennisTV/status/2090927809346634216?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p][b]"I've gotten a lot of confidence over the summer,"[/b] Nakashima said. [b]"In the final set, I trusted my game; I'm proud with how I ended the match.[/b][/p][p][b]"Today I was trying to hit bigger against him than in Washington; that's what got me through.[/b][/p][p][b]"I've had a pretty good last few weeks; I’ve spent hours and hours on the court - I'm proud of myself," [/b]he added. [b]"I now have the opportunity to win more matches."[/b][/p][p]Nakashima became the first American men's player since 2011 to reach the semi-finals in both Canada and Cincinnati in the same year.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/fritz-t-UH09iaZ6/nakashima-b-ETGnbrpH/?mid=thAXTt8b"]Check out the full match results here.[/a][/b][/p][p]Nakashima will face either [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/musetti-lorenzo/xtH2ODVI/"]Lorenzo Musetti[/a] or [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/arthur-fils/IoIhUqIN/"]Arthur Fils[/a] for a place in the final.[/p][embed guid="e1916e31-5152-4ef9-ba23-b8ffad9614d0" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4eOVbP8Tdc" social-type="youtube" /]