No. 12 seed Taylor Fritz served up 24 aces and advanced to his second consecutive U.S. Open quarterfinals with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 victory over No. 8 seed Casper Ruud on Sunday afternoon in New York.
Fritz outshot the Norwegian 56-32 to take the advantage in the winning tally. He won in 2 hours and 44 minutes.
“I felt like he had the advantage over me in the first set, so I just had to hang in there,” Fritz said. “I had my chances, he had my chances, and we took them.”
“He played well and I did a really good job early in the second set to get through some tough service games and put pressure on the scoreboard. I felt like his level dropped a little bit. I had a lot of chances on my second serve and I was able to get through from there.”
Fritz saved five of six break points to reach his third Grand Slam quarterfinal this year. He has never reached a major semifinal.
“I’m just taking it one game at a time, to be honest with you. I think that adds pressure,” Fritz said. “I kept saying we’re going to win in 2022, but we lost in the first round. I think it’s best to just take it one game at a time.”
Fritz will face fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany or fellow American Brandon Nakashima, who also played Sunday, in the quarterfinals.
Ninth seed Grigor Dimitrov also reached the quarterfinals, beating sixth-seeded Andrey Rublev of Russia 6-3, 7-6 (3), 1-6, 3-6, 6-3.
The Bulgarian got off to a strong start, but Rublev fought back to tie the score and finish strongly to reach his eighth Grand Slam quarterfinal and his second US Open appearance, having lost in the semifinals to Russia’s Daniil Medvedev in 2019.
Dimitrov saved 13 of 18 break points and hit 17 aces in a 3-hour, 40-minute marathon — four fewer than Rublev’s total — and Rublev led in winners 47-41.
Dimitrov will face either 20th seed Francis Tiafoe or 28th seed Alexei Popyrin of Australia in the quarterfinals, with the two facing off on Sunday night.
“I’m just trying to enjoy every moment and celebrate every day that I’m here,” Dimitrov said. “I’m just focusing on myself. It’s been a really tough couple of weeks, physically and everything. So I just want to focus on my rehab and what I did well today and what I can improve on. I’m just going to keep doing the basics as much as I can and I’m happy to make it to the second week.”
–Field Level Media
