Fritz passed double duty Friday to reach Washington Semis.
After his 3-hour victory against Andy Murray earlier on Friday, Taylor Fritz came over Jordan Thompson in less than half that time to reach the semifinal at the Citi Open.
ATP #9 seed clinched a 6-3, 6-3 triumph to extend his 7-win match win streak that started at the Atlanta Open last week. The 25-year old eventually won the Atlanta title and is now bidding to secure another final appearance as well extend his win streak at home soil. Fritz will face 12th seed Dutch Tallon Griekspoor on Saturday.
“I’ve put in a lot of work the last couple of weeks before coming here. I knew that this is one of the most physically demanding parts of the season, playing in the heat,” Fritz said post-match. “I definitely wasn’t training and preparing to play two matches in a day, especially one following a three-hour match.
“I came out tonight in the second match playing really well, being aggressive. I got early breaks in both sets, which was kind of my strategy, to kind of give it everything I had early, get up a break, and then I could coast a bit and focus on my serve games.”
The big serving American saved only two break points against the Aussie at 3-1 in the opener. Fritz has now fended off 18 of 19 break points this week after saving 8 of 8 against Zachary Svajda and 8/9 against Murray to keep the sheet one-less clean.
Versus Thompson, Fritz managed to convert a break in his first return game of both frames before having a third in final game of the second set to win the match.
If the Fritz gets a win over the Dutch on Saturday, he will get past Norwegian Casper Ruud to secure the #8 sport and get into the ATP Race to Turin.
“The main thing is just making sure my body is going to be feeling good,” Fritz said, looking ahead to the pair’s second meeting on the tour. “It feels good now, but after all the tennis and all the playing, who knows how I’m going to wake up feeling tomorrow. I just have to take care of myself.”
After the upset defeat of local favorite Frances Tiafoe by Brit Daniel Evans, the top-seeded American is the only American hope alive at the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington.