One of the last remaining American men’s tennis players is off to the quarterfinals of the 2024 US Open for the second straight year. The highest-ranked American and No. 12 seed Taylor Fritz defeated Casper Ruud at Louis Armstrong Stadium Sunday afternoon in four sets, 3-6,6-4,6-3,6-2, reaching the quarterfinals for the second consecutive year.
Entering the fourth round, Taylor Fritz became the first American to reach the fourth round in four majors in a year. The last man to do that was Andre Agassi back in 2003. In addition, Fritz gains a little revenge against Ruud, who knocked Fritz out in the fourth round of Roland Garros earlier this year, as he rallied to win the match after dropping the opening set.
Statement Win For Taylor Fritz
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This was a statement win for Taylor Fritz if there ever was one. Fritz fired off 56 winners to Ruud’s 32 and used the home crowd’s energy to triumph after two hours and 44 minutes on the court. With Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz being knocked out of the tournament, the draw is wide open for an American like Fritz to take the next step. He needed every trick to overcome the tough Norwegian on Sunday.
This was Fritz’s third Top 10 win a major. After dropping the opening set, where the three-time Grand Slam finalist outplayed him, Fritz had to dig deep to take his game to another level. Fritz had several break point chances in the opening set but could not convert. However, this allowed Ruud to stay in the set and strike on his opportunities to break Fritz’s serve.
Fritz Took Over The Match
However, that all changed in the second set. Fritz had to fight off some break point chances in his opening couple of service games to keep the scoreboard pressure on Ruud. You could see the players fighting the conditions as the roof of Louis Armstrong Stadium was closed. The sweat dripped off the players through these long rallies. Soon enough, Fritz could strike as Ruud’s level of play dipped. Fritz could get the break at level the match at a set all.
Throughout the next two sets, Taylor Fritz’s arsenal was on display. He was putting the ball where he wanted to on his serve and with his groundstrokes. Throughout the remainder of the match, Taylor Fritz was able to take advantage of Casper Ruud’s poor serving.
In both the third and fourth sets, Taylor Fritz broke his opponent at the first opportunity he got. However, after some early mistakes where he had 15 unforced errors in the first set, it was opponent Casper Ruud, who showed the jitters and nerves later in the match. Another double fault gave Fritz a 3-0 lead in the fourth set.
The door was open for Fritz to slam the door shut on his opponent and he did just that. He hit heavy groundstrokes and serves firing off 18 winners to just one unforced error in the fourth and final set. Taylor Fritz closed the match by serving the last of his 24 aces in the match.
Semifinals Await Taylor Fritz
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There is an opportunity for the highest-ranked American to do something he has never done and that is get to the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament. He’s now within touching distance of making his first Slam semifinal. Taylor Fritz has failed in his previous four tries to get past the quarterfinals. He will face the winner of Alexander Zverev and American Brandon Nakashima.
Even with Djokovic and Alcaraz out of the tournament and the draw opening up for Taylor Fritz as he is feeling good about his game, he knows that he can’t look to the possibility of playing for the trophy just yet as he told Pam Shriver post-match.
“I am taking it one match at a time to be honest. I think that can add more pressure,” Fritz said when asked about his title chances. “I came in 2022 saying I could win it and I lost first round. I think it is good to take it one match at a time.”
It has been a good season for “Mr. Consistent Taylor” Fritz. It could get even better with a win on Tuesday at the 2024 US Open.
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