Taylor Fritz delivered a medical show Wednesday on the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC, the place the American superior to the quarter-finals with a 6-4, 6-4 victory towards Denis Shapovalov.
The World No. 5 transformed three of 5 break factors to defeat Shapovalov in 78 minutes on the ATP 500. He fired 20 winners, together with seven aces, to succeed in the final eight in Acapulco for the third time in 5 appearances.
“I’m [pleased] with how I played a lot of the big points today,” stated Fritz, one of many stars of Netflix’s Break Point, after his victory. “I was very aggressive on the big points. I don’t necessarily love it when I play very tight and safe on big points. I feel really good when I’m being aggressive and taking my chances on those ones.”
Fritz’s quarter-final opponent in Mexico will likely be Frances Tiafoe, who he leads 5-1 within the pair’s ATP Head2Headvert sequence. The 25-year-old Fritz admitted that his friendship with Tiafoe added one thing further to their on-court conferences, the latest of which got here within the Tokyo closing final October.
“Frances and I are really close friends, but we’re also rivals as well,” stated Fritz, who gained a pair of tie-breaks to carry the title on that event in Japan. ”We’ve performed one another rather a lot and I do know I often strategy it like another match, however I really feel like at any time when we play there’s in all probability a bit bit of additional strain. I believe each of us actually need to beat the opposite one.”
The different quarter-final within the high half of the Acapulco draw may also characteristic a pair of Americans. Tommy Paul was main 6-4, 2-2 when his opponent Michael Mmoh retired from their second-round conflict, and the Australian Open semi-finalist will subsequent play Mackenzie McDonald, a 6-2, 6-0 winner towards Brandon Nakashima.
Another heavyweight quarter-final was set for Thursday’s schedule in Mexico by Holger Rune and Matteo Berrettini, who each loved snug straight-sets wins to guide their spot within the final eight.
The fourth-seeded Rune wanted simply 60 minutes to defeat Portuguese World No. 85 Nuno Borges 6-0, 6-2. The 19-year-old Dane, who’s taking part in in Acapulco for the primary time this week, has now gained 29 of his previous 35 matches relationship again to September final yr.
Rune’s subsequent opponent Berrettini eased previous Elias Ymer 6-3, 6-3. The Italian had not performed a aggressive match since 17 January previous to this week, however he cruised into the quarter-finals by placing 27 winners and successful 84 per cent (27/32) of factors behind his first serve in a 95-minute win.
Rune and Berrettini have performed simply as soon as earlier than on Tour, with the Italian prevailing 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 eventually yr’s BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
Source web site: www.atptour.com
