PETERSBURG, Russia – Taylor Fritz celebrated his 24th birthday by beating doubles partner Tommy Paul 7-6 (3), 6-4 to advance to the quarter-finals of the St. Petersburg Open.
It was a bittersweet victory because the Americans are good friends. “It makes it even tougher – not just another American, one of my closest friends,” the fifth-seeded Fritz said in his on-court interview according to AP. “It’s never easy playing against a really close friend.”
The California native jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first set and capitalized on Paul´s early double-fault in the tiebreaker. Paul converted just one of his four break points.
Fritz will next face Australian John Millman, who advanced by upsetting fourth-seeded Aslan Karatsev 6-3, 6-2. Karatsev won the Kremlin Cup on Sunday but the Russian lost his cool at 2-2 in the second set.
He handed the 57th-ranked Millman a break when he was penalized a point for slamming his racket on the court after sailing a backhand wide at deuce.
The loss was also a big setback in Karatsev´s bid to qualify for the ATP Finals.
The veteran Millman is 0-5 in quarter-final matches this year.
In another upset, Dutch qualifier Botic van de Zandschulp set up a quarterfinal against home favourite and defending champion Andrey Rublev after beating eighth-seeded Sebastian Korda of the United States 6-2, 7-5.
Van de Zandschulp beat Rublev during the qualifying rounds in Rotterdam in February 2017, when the now sixth-ranked Rublev was still outside the top 100.
“These days it´s a little bit different. The tables are a little bit turned,” the 69th-ranked Van de Zandschulp said in his post-match press conference.
Van de Zandschulp, a US Open quarter-finallist, broke the 38th-ranked Korda immediately and said he “didn’t give him free points,” limiting the American to two break chances.
Halep reaches quarters in Romania
Top-seeded Simona Halep overcame a back injury to defeat Varvara Gracheva of Russia 6-4, 6-2 and reach the quarterfinals of the Transylvania Open.
Second-seeded Anett Kontaveit and US Open champion Emma Raducanu also had straight-set wins to advance to the last eight of the Romanian indoor event.
Halep, who missed Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the Tokyo Olympics due to a calf injury, was visibly hampered in her movement but capitalized on her strong serve and a number of unforced errors by Gracheva.
“The back got blocked and the pain is really big. You cannot really bend much and you cannot move,” Halep said. “I had this before many times and I just wanted to continue and finish the match.”
Tiafoe stuns Tsitsipas
Frances Tiafoe hit back from 3-0 down in the final set to shock top seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and reach the Vienna ATP quarter-finals.
Tiafoe, 49 in the world, now boasts a 2-1 head-to-head record over third-ranked Tsitsipas after coming out on top at Wimbledon before the Greek star gained revenge at the Tokyo Olympics.
The 23-year-old Tiafoe will next play eighth seed Diego Schwartzman, who defeated Frenchman Gael Monfils 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-2.
“For me it was an important match. The only bad part is I cannot see Paris Saint-Germain tomorrow with Lionel Messi in France. I’m kidding, I’m kidding!” Schwartzman said in his post-match interview, referring to reaching the French capital ahead of next week’s Paris Masters.
German second seed Alexander Zverev earned his 300th tour-level win by seeing off Alex de Minaur 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 to also reach the quarter-finals.
After a short lapse in the second set, Tsitsipas appeared to have regained his level as he sprinted through the first three games in the decider. But Tiafoe, who constantly engaged the Austrian crowd, battled back to triumph after one hour and 49 minutes.
“You’ve got fans going nuts early in the match. I want to play. I want to be out there, I want to give it my all. You’ve got little kids screaming ‘Big Foe’ and that’s what it’s about,” Tiafoe said.
“It’s almost irrelevant who you’re playing. Obviously I want to beat Stefanos and these guys, it’s always good to have on the resume. It’s been great.”
It was a thrilling match with entertaining points throughout. But in the crucial moments, Tiafoe was the more decisive player, and that made the difference.
Tsitsipas double faulted to give Tiafoe the deciding break in the third set. Despite facing the pressure of serving out the match, the American played bold tennis to close things out, hitting a massive second serve at 30/15 and eliciting a return error on the next point to seal his victory.
Tiafoe now leads the pair’s ATP Head2Head series 2-1, with all three of their meetings coming this year. He was victorious at Wimbledon, and Tsitsipas beat him at the Tokyo Olympics.
In his only previous appearance in Vienna three years ago, Tiafoe lost in the first round. But he made just 14 unforced errors to move into his second ATP 500 quarter-final of the year.
“I just love playing in a packed house. I feel at home. I feel like that’s what it’s about,” Tiafoe said.
“The result is almost irrelevant sometimes. You have kids coming out; parents bring these kids out, pay their hard-earned money to come watch me play. I want people to have fun just like I’m having fun. I feel it’s my duty to ‘A’, bring it, give my all, but also to make sure everyone has fun. That kid at the top of the stadium, I want them going home remembering [they] watched Frances Tiafoe play and [they] had a great time.”
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