Tennis ace survives 5 set factors and wins a 20-minute tiebreak at Cincinnati

American tennis star Taylor Fritz got here by an epic tiebreak throughout his opening match on the Cincinnati Open. The 25-year-old battled Jiri Lehecka on heart courtroom with the 2 gamers producing an exhilarating 20-minute tiebreaker to determine the primary set.

Fritz was ultimately the winner at 16-14. He saved 5 set factors earlier than Lehecka double-faulted and gifted the set to the Californian on his seventh alternative. 

The ninth-seeded Fritz misplaced simply considered one of his 13 first-serve factors within the second set and went on to register a 7-6(14), 6-2 victory in entrance of his followers on dwelling soil. “It was probably as hard as I had, just putting the ball into court,” Fritz mentioned post-match when requested concerning the circumstances.

“The courts are fast and bouncy. … Everything wants to fly and on top of that, everything is super windy. I was just trying to put the ball in court. I just had to feel it out at the beginning. As much as I wanted to pull the trigger on big points, if it is not there, it is not there, so you have to do what you feel comfortable and hit the ball you feel you can make under pressure.”

The win noticed Fritz enhance his laborious courtroom file to 29-8 this season, led by title runs in Delray Beach and Atlanta. The American, who’s seeking to enhance on his run to the Cincinnati quarterfinals in 2022, is now 3-0 in his head-to-head file with Lehecka and he’ll face Italian Lorenzo Sonego within the subsequent spherical.

Fritz’s countryman Tommy Paul joined him within the second spherical after he defeated Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic 7-5, 7-6(2) in a single hour and 54 minutes. Paul is seeking to construct on his run to the semifinals in Toronto final week, which included a victory over the reigning Wimbledon and US Open champion Carlos Alcaraz.

World No. 10 Frances Tiafoe squandered two match factors within the second set of his match earlier than battling again to beat Washington runner-up Tallon Griekspoor to achieve the second spherical. He had a match level on the Dutchman’s serve at 6-5 and one other within the tiebreak however in the end battled for 2 hours and 26 minutes to finish a 6-4, 6-7(7), 6-4 win.

He will face tennis veteran and three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka within the subsequent spherical after he beat Brandon Nakashima 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3. Cincinnati will mark Novak Djokovic’s first event within the US since 2021 when he was barred from coming into the nation because of the coronavirus vaccine mandate.

This is the primary time he’ll play on the Cincinnati Masters since 2019 and he’ll hope to have a great week forward of the US Open, the ultimate main of the 12 months. He will open his marketing campaign in opposition to Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina tomorrow.