WHAT HAPPENED: Playing perhaps some of his best tennis of the year, No. 12 seed Taylor Fritz cruised past Italy’s Matteo Berrettini, 6-3, 7-6(1), 6-1, in an evening match in Louis Armstrong Stadium to reach Round 3 of the 2024 US Open.
Fritz did not face a break point in the match, and he lost just eight total points on his delivery in a flawless serving display.
With his game firing on all cylinders in the first set, Fritz capitalized on an early service break and took only 17 minutes to build a 4-1 lead. The 26-year-old American dictated play and kept Berrettini off-balanced. Later at 5-3, he confidently served out the 33-minute set at love.
The match tightened in the second set with both players holding serve through 12 games without a single break point. Fritz rose to the occasion in the tiebreak, stringing together stinging service returns to draw errors from Berrettini. To the delight of the partisan crowd, Fritz built a commanding 6-0 lead and two points later, he slammed an overhead winner to take a two-set lead.
Fritz continued to play at a very high level and the third set was almost a formality as he broke Berrettini in the second and fourth games to establish a 5-0 lead. After Berrettini held serve in the sixth game, Fritz blasted an ace on his first match point to wrap up the victory in two hours, nine minutes.
“I came in really focused. I felt I was locked in on every point. I was a little upset with myself for my first round, so I was just ready to go. Matteo is an extremely good player. It was a tough second round,” Fritz said following the straight-sets victory.
“Getting through these Grand Slams and these early rounds is always tricky,” Fritz added as he spoke about playing at the US Open. “It's amazing, I feel right at home. There is nothing like playing a prime-time night match in Armstrong. This is the court and time slot I wanted to play my match. I’m pumped that I got to come out in front of the crowd and play. It’s unbelievable energy.”
WHAT IT MEANS: After eliminating Berrenttini in the last match of the day in Louis Armstrong Stadium, Fritz is now 4-0 in career head-to-head meetings with the Italian. In their previous three matches, he defeated Berrenttini at the 2019 Davis Cup Finals in Spain, at the 2021 ATP Masters 1000 in Indian Wells and the 2023 United Cup in Australia.
Next up for Fritz will be a third-round match against Argentina's Francisco Comesana, a 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 second-round upset winner over No. 17 seed Ugo Humbert of France. The match will be their first career head-to-head meeting.
MATCH POINT: Fritz won 90% of his first-serve points (36/40) and an even more impressive 87% on his second delivery (27/31). He almost had more aces (seven) than points lost on serve (eight).
