Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Top seed Taylor Fritz captured the last five points in a deciding tie-breaker to defeat fellow American Sebastian Korda and advance to the ATP Dallas Open semi-finals on Friday. World number seven Fritz fought back to defeat 53rd-ranked Korda 6-7 (2/7), 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) and book a place against Croatian Marin Cilic, the 2014 US Open winner, in a Saturday semi-final.
Fritz, now 4-1 in matches against Korda, fired 22 aces and won all four break points he faced to conclude matters in two hours and 30 minutes. “Just (proud of) the way I handled those big moments in that match,” Fritz said. “He was constantly putting a lot of pressure on my serve. He was playing really well.”
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Fritz also fought back after suffering a right elbow injury returning a Korda shot in the second set. “I just instantly got this really sharp pain in my elbow, served one serve afterwards — luckily I made it — and knew right then I needed to get the physio there. It was pretty bad,” Fritz said. “I had a couple games where I was really scared to snap my serve because I feel that pain I’m going to lose that point, but then I got some painkillers, I started to feel better and then I started to just trust it and it wasn’t even something I was thinking of most of the second and the full third (sets).”
Up 5-4 in the final tie-breaker, Korda sent two forehands long and Fritz blasted a service winner on the final point for the triumph. Cilic advanced by beating British qualifier Jack Pinnington Jones 6-1, 6-4.
Fritz is 2-1 in ATP play against 37-year-old Cilic, winning on Monte Carlo clay in 2022 and at Indian Wells in 2017 but losing a 2021 final at St. Petersburg. Canada’s Denis Shapovalov kept his title defense on track, beating third-seeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. Shapovalov next faces second seeded American Ben Shelton, who rallied for a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic.
© 2024 AFP
