Chinese tennis star Wu Yibing on his journey to ATP Tour
Taylor Fritz will reach two new milestones if he can beat Novak Djokovic in their mouth-watering US Open quarter-final on Tuesday. The highest-ranked American is into the second Grand Slam quarter-final of his career after overcoming Switzerland’s Dominic Stricker 7-6, 6-4, 6-4 to delight the New York crowd.
He will now face 23-time Grand Slam winner and three times US Open champion Djokovic for a place in the final four and Fritz has already conceded that the match is as big as his Wimbledon quarter-final clash with Rafael Nadal last year.
Speaking to the assembled media after his victory over Stricker, Fritz said: “I mean, yeah, it’s on par with quarter-finals, Rafa [Nadal], Wimbledon [2022], then maybe finals Indian Wells [2022], Rafa. I’d say it’s in the same ballpark. They’re definitely top three.”
The 25-year-old took on the legendary Spaniard at SW19 last year and despite an obvious injury problem, Nadal used all of his experience to eventually win the match 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 in four hours and 20 minutes.
However, Fritz was a champion at Indian Wells four months earlier when he recorded a straight-sets victory against the injured Nadal to claim the biggest win of his career.
If the clash with Djokovic is comparable to Nadal in terms of their standing in the game, it is a different story when it comes to head-to-head records.
In seven meetings with Fritz, the Serb has won all of them, leaving the American with a duck to break at Flushing Meadows.
Fritz said: “Novak’s Novak. It’s tough. I said it on court: he’s gotten me seven times. There’s no one on tour that has any kind of a record like that against me, so I’m hoping one of these times I’ve got to get him. US Open quarters would be a pretty good time to get him.”
Should Fritz defy the odds to beat the pre-tournament favourite, he will be setting two firsts. Not only will he have defeated the second seed for the first time in his career, but he will have reached a Grand Slam semi-final for the first time also.
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Fritz is one of three US male stars who still have a chance of winning the final slam of the year. The World No 9 has been joined in the last eight by fellow top-10 players Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton.
Tiafoe and Shelton will face each other in the quarterfinals, meaning that regardless of how Fritz gets on against Djokovic, there will be at least one American star who is guaranteed to make it to this year’s semifinals.
Should Fritz win his match, however, he will face one of his compatriots for the prestigious place in the final.
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