Top seed Taylor Fritz claimed his 17th win from 20 matches on American soil this season when he defeated practice partner Zachary Svajda 6-3, 6-3 in the feature night match at the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington, DC, on Wednesday.
Fritz, who twice rallied from 0/40 down in the second set, will next face former World No. 1 Andy Murray.
Trying to work his way into contention to qualify for the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, Fritz has the opportunity to move inside the cut in eighth position in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin with a title this week.
“Zach and I have trained together consistently for the past couple of years; I try to give him advice. He’s not someone you want to see on the other side of the court. I know what level he is capable of,” Fritz said.
Coming off his second title of the season last week in Atlanta, Fritz stitched up the first set against 20-year-old Svajda with love breaks in the third and eighth games.
The 25-year-old dug himself out of a 0/40 hold in the fifth game of the second set and claimed the decisive break three games later.
Three factors underpinned Fritz’s victory: He won 29 of 34 points on his first serve, he clubbed 32 winners to Svajda’s nine and he saved all eight break points faced.
“I played all those points well,” Fritz said of the break points he faced in the second set.
“A mix of good serving and some good shots I hit. It was one of those nights when I was playing a bit loose. It’s going to be a tough match against Andy, who is such an amazing competitor. The conditions are really, really slow so that will help him in the match a little bit.” French wild card Gael Monfils used his dazzling court speed to thwart the variety in Alexander Bublik’s bag of tricks to claim a 6-3, 6-4 win.
“I knew I needed to be really fast and sharp on every ball,” Monfils said. “He can hit a lot of drop shots so I knew I had to be free with my feet. I am fast He might be able to hit two or three (I can’t get) but I know I will get most of them,” Monfils said.
The 36-year-old will next meet Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor.
Gauff triumphs over Baptiste to book quarter-final spot
No.3 seed Coco Gauff won a main-draw match at the Mubadala Citi DC Open for the first time in her career on Wednesday, besting Washington DC native Hailey Baptiste 6-1, 6-4 in their second-round matchup.
In the first singles meeting between the two young Americans, World No.7 Gauff ousted 204th-ranked Baptiste at the qualifier’s hometown event after 1 hour and 17 minutes of play.
“Playing Hailey, a friend, known her for a long time,” Gauff said after her win.
“It was really cool to play her in front of her hometown, and hopefully we have many more battles in the future.
“We practiced together so many times. Camps together. We even shared a room together in Palm Springs for, like, three weeks or two weeks. We were roommates. Yeah, we know each other very well.”
DC breakthrough: Gauff’s only previous appearance at Washington came in 2019, where she qualified for the main draw but lost to Zarina Diyas in the first round. However, Gauff did end that week with a trophy, when she won her first WTA doubles title alongside Caty McNally.
Now, Gauff has a singles main-draw match-win in DC under her belt as well. On Stadium Court, 19-year-old Gauff never dropped serve, and she won over half of the points returning 21-year-old Baptiste’s second serves.
Gauff, the 2022 Roland Garros finalist, had to stare down three break points in her second service game of the match. But after getting out of that jam, Gauff cruised through the rest of her service games in that set behind sturdy deliveries.
In the much closer second set, Gauff took control by prevailing in a five-deuce game to break for a 4-3 lead.
Gauff eased to victory from there, converting her first match point with her fifth ace of the day.