Fifth seed Taylor Fritz reached the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time on Tuesday after coming through a topsy-turvy four-setter against Karen Khachanov where the American seemed to be cruising, but then had to show all his fighting spirit.
Fritz eventually triumphed 6-3 6-4 1-6 7-6(4) but must have thought he was in for an easier passage as he ripped through the first two sets.
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Russia’s Khachanov, the 17th seed, also seeking a first Wimbledon semi, then won eight of the next nine games to take the third set and move a break up in the fourth.
Fritz, however, regrouped to immediately break back, regain control of his service, and triumph in the decisive tiebreak.
Fritz arrived at Wimbledon in hot grass form after title wins in Stuttgart and Eastbourne and got off to a flier on Tuesday, breaking in the second game and proceeding untroubled to take the set.
It got to 4-4 on serve in the second before Khachanov fell apart to be broken to love and Fritz served out to love for a 2-0 set lead.
In his opening 10 service games the American dropped only seven points and did not face a break point as he won an impressive 88% of points on first serve.
It all changed dramatically and unexpectedly in the third as Fritz’s game seemed to fall apart. From cruise control on serve for 90 minutes, he was broken twice, spraying his groundstrokes long and wide, as Khachanov finally found a way to get his serves back and added some venom to his own attack.
Fritz must have been wondering what happened and had time to reset as he received treatment for a foot blister.
It did not seem to change anything though as the American was again loose while Khachanov visibly grew in confidence, bossing the rallies and immediately breaking. He then rattled through a high-speed service game for a 2-0 fourth-set lead.
First time walking out onto centre-court, playing for a spot in the quarter-finals.01:1502:48
The Number One Court crowd, desperate to be entertained, were all in on the comeback, but Fritz managed to stem the bleeding by immediately breaking back and then rediscovering his serve dominance.
Jannik Sinner reaches QFs despite a bad elbow when an injured Dimitrov stops
Jannik Sinner advanced to the Wimbledon quarterfinals despite hurting his right elbow in a fall in the opening game and dropping the first two sets when his opponent, Grigor Dimitrov, wound up quitting in the third because of an injured pectoral muscle.
Sinner said he will have an MRI exam Tuesday on his elbow “to see if there’s something serious” and added in Italian: “There is some concern.”
The No. 1-seeded Sinner hadn’t dropped a set in the tournament until falling behind No. 19 Dimitrov 6-3, 7-5. But at 2-all in the third set, Dimitrov stopped playing.
It’s the fifth consecutive Grand Slam tournament where the 34-year-old Dimitrov failed to complete a match. He also did it at the Australian Open in January and the French Open in May, plus last year’s Wimbledon and U.S. Open.
The 23-year-old Italian is a three-time Grand Slam champion who will play No. 10 Ben Shelton of the United States for a berth in the semifinals.