The National Bank Open Presented by Rogers saved the best for the last time on a Bumper Sunday of action in which all four men’s singles matches went into a decisive set.
In the Toronto sleep hat, Taylor Fritz Jiri Lehecka 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5) focused in a dramatic match in which neither players lost a service game. For almost three hours, Fritz saved all nine breakpoints against him while Lehecka saved five, according to Infosys ATP statistics.
Fritz escaped 0/40 on 5-6 in the opening set before Lehecka groove from the same hole on 0-1 in the third set. After fighting a last breaking point to keep 4-3 in the decision maker, the American closed the game by winning five of the last six points from 2/4 in the decisive tie-break.
While Fritz sometimes struggled to find the court with his aggressive match, ending with 48 errors, he found a road to the quarterfinals behind a great serving day
‘I just think in the end [it was about] Really accept what was for me tonight, “said the American, who won 82 percent of his first service points.” Fortunately for me I really served, very good tonight. He was too.
“When it came to that tie-break, I really saved myself with a lot of first, and then just try to post balls on the field and not to try not to try photos that, despite how much I wanted to try to be aggressive, just be disciplined and just making the balls I felt like I would make.”
The victory completed the Box set of ATP Masters 1000 quarter -finals for Fritz, which is for the first time to that phase in Canada. He is the ninth active player who reaches the quarters on all nine Masters 1000S.
“It’s really cool,” said Fritz. “It shows consistency on all different tournaments and surfaces. I think what is the next step to go for Semis.” Fritz has reached the Semis in six of the nine masters -all except Rome, Cincinnati and Paris.
Fritz is also the fourth man who registers 35 victories this season. He now has a record of 35-13, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, including an 18-3 Mark since June, which includes titles in Stuttgart and Eastbourne and a run to the semi-final of Wimbledon. The number 4 in the PIF ATP ranking leads all the active American men with 319 wins at tour level in general, for the 232 of Frances Tiafoe in the second place.
Next for Fritz is a quarter -final confrontation against Sixth Seed Andrey Rublev on Tuesday.
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