As the No. 1 seed for Eastbourne International, the world No. 13 and American No. 1, Taylor Fritz, got a bye into the second round of the tournament. This meant his first opponent was Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild who had defeated Australian James McCabe in the first round.
Fritz took down the Brazilian in straight sets needing a tiebreak to win the first set. The American went on to take one of two breakpoint opportunities in the second set to defeat the Brazilian. Fritz didn’t face a single breakpoint all through the match.
1st Set Shows Command Of Serves
The first set of Taylor Fritz and Juncheng Shang’s Eastbourne International quarterfinal clash was a battle of who had the strongest hold of serve. He gifted Shang just one point on his serve from an unforced error in his first three service games. Shang also started strongly, dropping just three points, one in each of his first three service games.
In the seventh game of the first set, Juncheng Shang produced the first breakpoint opportunity of the set. Fritz saved it to force a deuce before the Chinese tennis player pulled another breakpoint opportunity. Fritz had to call up an ace and a winner to hold his serve. In just under two minutes, Shang held serve in the subsequent game, dropping just one point to Taylor Fritz. Fritz replied with a winner and two aces to hold to love. Shang then served out a solid service game where the only blight was one unforced error, tying the set at 5-5.
Fritz went on to hold his serve to love while Shang called on two aces and a Taylor Fritz unforced error to drag the set to a first-set tiebreak. Shang was unlucky to gift Fritz four points from unforced errors. The American went on to take the first set 7-5.
Taylor Fritz Wins 2nd Set Tiebreak
Taylor Fritz attacked Juncheng Shang’s serve as soon as the second set began. After the 45 minutes long first set, Shang found himself having to struggle through almost 12 minutes and a 16-point-long game to finally hold his serve. The next three games showed scintillating serves as both players served to love in almost seven minutes combined.
Fritz then rushed to within two breakpoints on Shang’s serve in the fifth game of the set. The Chinese didn’t relent, but it was Fritz’s unforced error that assisted the Chinese back to deuce. After holding his serve, Shang went on to produce two breaks of his own on Fritz’s serve in the next game. The American had to dig deep to hold his serve.
Shang also had to save another breakpoint in the 11th game of the set before Fritz went on to serve the set into a tiebreak. The second tiebreak of the match was as competitive as the first, but as the first, the enormity of the moment overwhelmed Juncheng Shang as he gifted Fritz four points on unforced errors for the American to win 7-5.
Taylor Fritz will face Aleksandar Vukic in the Eastbourne International semifinal. It will be the second meeting between the two of them since Taylor Fritz defeated the Australian in the final of the Atlanta Open in 2023. It’s also the fourth semifinal of the year for Taylor Fritz. The American has won one title in 2024, which is the Delray Beach Open, after defeating fellow American, Tommy Paul, in the final.
Taylor Fritz’s 2024 So Far
Taylor Fritz started 2024 with a solid performance in the Australian Open. After excellent performances like the match against Hugo Gaston where he dropped just four games across three sets, the American powered his way to the quarterfinal. There, former world No. 1, Novak Djokovic, defeated him in four sets.
Fritz then went on to win his next tournament, the Delray Beach Open. He won every set he played in all through the tournament. Fritz’s next tournament wasn’t as good. The American was knocked out in the first round by Italian Matteo Arnaldi. Next, he reached the third round of the Indian Wells Masters, beating Alejandro Tabilo and Sebastian Baez in straight sets each before losing to Holger Rune.
Fritz’s Eastbourne International second-round opponent, Thiago Seyboth Wild, then knocked him out of the first round of the Miami Open. His woes continued in the Monte-Carlo Masters where Lorenzo Musetti knocked him out in the first round. Taylor Fritz’s form picked up in the Bavarian Championships where he powered through Alejandro Moro Canas, Jack Draper, and Cristian Garin to reach the final. He eventually lost it to Jan-Lennard Struff in straight sets.
Taylor Fritz then had a semifinal run in the Madrid Open, losing to Andrey Rublev, followed by a quarterfinal run in the Italian Open, losing to Alexander Zverev. Both defeats came at the hands of the eventual winners of those tournaments.
In preparation for the French Open, the American got knocked out of the second round of the Geneva Open by Alex Michelsen. Casper Ruud then knocked him out of the French Open in the fourth round. The American also got knocked out of the Queen’s Club Championships by Australian Jordan Thompson who got knocked out by Lorenzo Musetti In the semifinal.
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