Another day, another gritty effort from American Taylor Fritz.
No one on tour has won more matches than Fritz since Wimbledon, and the top-ranked American continued the trend on Wednesday as he edged Shanghai champion Valentin Vacherot in a tight tussle, 4-6 7-6(4) 7-5, to reach the second round.
Fritz has won 34 matches since the start of the grass season, and he’s not showing signs of slowing down.
On Wednesday night the top seed fought off a valiant effort from rising Vacherot, who entered the contest with a career-high ranking of 39 and a tank full of confidence after becoming the first man from his country to win a Masters title just over a week ago in Shanghai.
Fritz said that the powerful second serve was what impressed him most about the Monagesque.
“Big serving for sure,” Fritz said. “He was pretty much serving two first serves for most of the match. The second serve is huge.
“He made it tough with how big his second serve was. And he did a really good job of playing defense and not making a lot of mistakes – he made me work for a lot of points.”
Still, Fritz won 10 of 15 points against the second serve in the critical third set, as he sealed off his 51st win of the season. The American won 25 of 42 second-serve return points overall on the day.
26-year-old Vacherot was riding a nine-match winning streak including qualifying at Shanghai, where he defeated his cousin Arthur Rinderknech in the final and became the lowest-ranked Masters 1000 champion in history. He was dead even with Fritz after taking the second set and breaking back in the decider to level up at 4-4.
Fritz said he was able to capitalize on new balls as Vacherot served to force a final set tiebreak, trailing 5-6.
“As we played the match I started to see why [Shanghai] conditions suited him really well,” Fritz said. “I felt like when the balls got worn out and it slowed down a lot because the balls got big, I felt like that’s where he was controlling me the most and dominating me. I felt like definitely in the slower conditions in this match he played much better.
“In the last game I was able to get the break with new balls, I felt like I was more in control of the match when it was playing a little bit faster.”
Fritz finished with 47 winners against 38 for Vacherot – both players hit 15 forehand winners. The American converted both his break points in the final set and cracked 21 aces across the two hour and 36-minute encounter to avoid the upset.
Fritz will face Ugo Humbert, who defeated Sebastian Korda, 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday.
In other action on Wednesday in Basel, Casper Ruud took out Quentin Halys, 6-1, 7-6(3), Felix Auger-Aliassime topped compatriot Gabriel Diallo 6-2, 7-5 and Botic van de Zandschulp toppled Jiri Lehecka 6-2, 6-2.
