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Britain’s Jack Draper reached his first Grand Slam semifinal at the US Open on Wednesday, while Iga Swiatek prepared to stem an American championship surge.

Draper, the world number 25, defeated 10th seed Australian Alex de Minaur 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 to become the first Briton to reach the semi-finals in New York since Andy Murray won the title 12 years ago.

The 22-year-old left-hander will face either world number one Jannik Sinner or 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev to secure a place in Sunday’s final.

Women’s tennis world number one Swiatek, the 2022 champion, will face Jessica Pegula in her quarterfinal later on Wednesday.

The winner will face unseeded Karolina Muchova, who reached the semifinals for the second time in a row with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Beatriz Haddad Maia.

Draper took the win despite taking a medical timeout at the start of the second set to have his right thigh bandaged.

“It’s unbelievable. My first time at Arthur Ashe Stadium means the world to me,” said Draper, who had lost three of three meetings with De Minaur before Wednesday.

“I played a solid game and feel fitter than I have in a long time.”

Draper reached the semifinals without dropping a set, continuing his impressive summer run that included winning his first ATP title in Stuttgart and defeating Carlos Alcaraz at the Queen’s Club on the eve of Wimbledon.

On Wednesday, he hit 11 aces in his 40 winners and forced De Minaur to fend off 14 of 20 break points.

The British player is 1-0 ahead of Sinner in his direct match, even though the win at Queen’s was three years ago.

At the beginning of the year he lost to Medvedev on clay in Rome.

Sinner is the only top-four player left in the men’s tournament after the eliminations of Novak Djokovic, Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev.

However, he has not yet made it into the last four in New York and must now test his skills against fifth-seeded Medvedev.

Sinner beat Medvedev from two sets down to win his first major title at the Australian Open in January before the unpredictable Russian avenged that defeat at Wimbledon.

“I will try to think more about Wimbledon than the Australian Open,” said Medvedev, who also finished runner-up at the US Open in 2019 and 2023.

Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz have already qualified for an all-American men’s semifinal on Friday and Emma Navarro has safely established herself in the women’s semifinals, so the home fans are dreaming of a title win this weekend.

Andy Roddick was the last American to lift a Grand Slam singles trophy in New York in 2003, while Serena Williams, Sloane Stephens and Coco Gauff triumphed in the women’s tournaments over the last decade.

Pegula will try to become the fourth American player in the semifinals.

However, she faces the difficult task of facing Swiatek, the four-time French Open champion who is aiming for her sixth Grand Slam title.

Swiatek has a 6-3 lead over sixth-ranked Pegula, who has failed in six Grand Slam quarterfinals.

Muchova’s victory over Haddad Maia came despite having to sprint to the toilet after a narrow 2-1 lead in the second set, a sprint that surprised everyone.

“It was weird. I had a problem that I don’t want to say anything about,” said the 28-year-old.

“I’m sorry if I disturbed anyone, but I really had no other choice.”

After her loss to eventual winner Coco Gauff in the 2023 semifinals, Muchova suffered a serious wrist injury that kept her out of action until June of this year.

Muchova, formerly ranked No. 8 in the world and now No. 52, is yet to drop a set and has eliminated two-time champion Naomi Osaka and this year’s French Open and Wimbledon runner-up Jasmine Paolini.