Taylor Fritz barely escaped an opening round that was up to the Kinoshita Group Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo on Thursday, where he collected along Gabriel Diallo 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3).
Only a few days away from his striking Laver Cup wins on Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev, Fritz noticed that he was being pushed against colleague Big Server Diallo, who hit 16 winners (40-24). Yet the second-placed American dug deep to seal a two-hour, nine-minute victory and to expand its perfect 3-0 record in the Lexus ATP Head2head series of the couple.
Taking care of business?@Taylor_Fritz97 Survives the Diallo test to continue to round two.@japanopennisnisnisnis | #kinoshitajotennis pic.twitter.com/s2yacknt7p
– ATP Tour (@atptour) September 25, 2025
With his victory, Fritz also strengthened his offer to qualify for the Nitto ATP final for the second consecutive year. He is sixth in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin, after he reached the title match during last year’s season finale before he fell to Jannik Sinner.
“The biggest thing for me today was the energy, it is really difficult to match last week’s energy with Andre [Agassi] And the team that drives crazy on the bank, “said Fritz van Laver Cup’s Team World, captain by Andre Agassi.” I really just had to find it and get it going. It was really a difficult match to play. ”
Fritz now has a 46-17 record in 2025, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, only behind World No. 1 Alcaraz (62) for most victories this season. The American, who conquered the Tokyo title in 2022, is confronted with a second round collision with Portugal’s Nuno Borges.
It was also a strong day for other Americans. Sebastian Korda gathered past countryman Marcos Giron for a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory, while Jenson Brooksby made sixth seed of region and finalist Ugo Humbert 7-6 (4) from last year, 6-3.
Korda made a meeting with the Japanese qualifying game Sho Shimabukuro, who surprised fifth seed Tomas Machac 6-3, 7-6 (4) in his first match on the tour level of the season, and Brooksby then plays Luciano Darderi, who plays Home Yoshihito Nishioka 7-6 (9), 6-3, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6-6, 6-6, 6-6, 6-6, 6-6, 6-6 (9).
Korda, who missed the grass swing because of a right shin fracture, is seven places higher to No. 67 in the PIF ATP Live rankings. Brooksby now has 17 victories at tour level this year and remains on schedule to improve his career-best count of 25 from 2022, the year that he reached a career-high world no. 33.
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