American Taylor Fritz overcame a tough test from Lloyd Harris on Wednesday, reaching the third round of the US Open, continuing his dominant summer stretch.
The fourth seed Fritz, runner-up last year in the US Open, recovered from dropping the opening set, moving on to 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2 and 6-4.
He was 8-8 on breakpoint opportunities in the first two sets, then converted 5-7 in the final two sets.
“I know Lloyd forever, and it’s dangerous because he’s solid from behind,” Fritz said. “He hasn’t made a lot of mistakes and he has a very good serve, so if you’re not, it’s very easy. I mean, what happened in the beginning could have been me breaking.
Fritz quickly joined No. 17 seed Francistiáfo in the third round, and he defeated another American, 21-year-old Martindam Jr. 6-4, 7-5, 6-7 (8), 7-5.
Tiafoe scored 86% of his first serve points and saved all three breakpoints he faced while firing 13 aces into one double fault.
“He fought incredibly well,” Tiafoe said of Damm, the son of a former tour pro and son of 2006 US Open Doubles Champion Martin Damm Sr.
Since its launch in 2020, Tiafoe has won 22 US Open matches, second only to Daniil Medvedev (25).
Meanwhile, Fritz has been in the 23-5 mark since the end of the French Open. Everyone won the most tour levels on the men’s tours in that range. Right behind him is American Ben Shelton (19-6), who is scheduled to play in the evening session at Louis Armstrong late Wednesday.
Fritz and Shelton are fighting to be number one American at the end of the tournament. With fewer points to defend, Shelton had to reach round 16 and advance one round beyond Fritz to overtake him in the rankings.
Fritz next was Jerome Kim from Swiss qualifiers and American Brandon Nakashima 4-6, 7-6 (2), 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (8). The 30th seed has been short in his bid to become the fourth man to win multiple decision set tiebreaks at the US one open since it was introduced in 1970.
Another American who will be fall on Wednesday was Marcos Guillon. He had received a massive comeback from Benjamin Bonji on the heels of an eventful first-round victory with Medvedev. Bonzi, a 29-year-old Frenchman, gathered from two sets of deficits to eliminate Giron 2-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 and 6-4.
ESPN research contributed to this report.
