In what has become an increasingly unpredictable week of Masters 1000 play on the men’s side, Taylor Fritz will next face a familiar foe in old junior rival Andrey Rublev in Friday’s day session after their contrasting victories over Francisco Cerundolo and Carlos Alcaraz respectively at the quarter-final stage.
250 and up for Fritz, but now a recharged Rublev beckons
THREE early tournament defeats, four if you count Holger Rune at Indian Wells – he led 6-2, 5-4 and briefly had a match point opportunity – you could forgive Delray Beach champion Taylor Fritz for licking his wounds after being outgunned (7-5, 6-3) by Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff during their Munich final on April 21.
Since losing to eventual champion Jannik Sinner in this year’s Australian Open quarterfinals on Jan. 23, it’s been a grind on tour in the subsequent three months for Andrey Rublev. Knowing him as we do, that feeling won’t change soon.
That’s one thing that both he and Fritz, another fallen quarterfinalist in Melbourne, share before their Friday matchup with a front-row seat for the victor to watch Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Jiri Lehecka a few hours later during the day’s second semifinal.
Fritz [12] was made to work for that milestone, becoming only the fourth man born in 1997 or later to hit 250 career tour-level wins after a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 scoreline saw him outlast the exciting Argentine Francisco Cerundolo on Wednesday evening.
Olympic champion Alexander Zverev (416), two-time Major finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas (321) and Rublev (311) have all achieved that milestone in the past with varying degrees of success as far as the very biggest events are concerned.
That said though, the latter would love nothing more than to replicate the success — albeit without so much stress – that saw him overwhelm the big-serving American during a deciding set in Monte-Carlo last term, en route to a first M1000 title.
Fritz became the first from his nation to reach the Madrid semis since it switched to a clay surface back in 2009, before he was even a teenager.
The 2022 Indian Wells champion has been riding a wave of recent momentum with the aforementioned Munich final, a first on clay in his career, with a trio of clay-court titleholders dismissed before Cerundolo as the draw whittled down — Luciano Darderi (Cordoba), Sebastian Baez (Rio, Santiago) and Hubert Hurkacz (Estoril).
After his accomplished showing against Baez, the 26-year-old acknowledged there was more variety to his arsenal and that can only be a good thing. Executing that versatility at the right time and not overplaying in certain situations, is the next key.
“That was really on display in my last match, was drop-shotting, moon-balling, doing a bit of everything. I feel like I’ve had that, just never really used it as much as normal cause on hard court, I have better shots to hit in those situations. I’m almost playing a different way on clay every year, it’s kind of just finding out what stuff works for you.”
Rublev has spoken well in the press about dealing with his emotions better, more productively and not letting mistakes cloud his judgment during matches.
While multiple flashpoints at different tournaments recently show it’s still a work in progress, the Russian spoke with surprise that he managed to contain his emotions during a morale-boosting recovery win over three sets against Carlos Alcaraz.
“I can’t believe I was able to stay calm throughout the match, didn’t say a word, even I’m impressed by that. I want to believe that I’ve been working on this because if not then I’m stupid, after so many years, to not improve on this would mean something is wrong with my head.”Â
Having lost both their previous H2H meetings, it was a much-needed scalp for Rublev to reinforce just how good he can be when he’s firing on all cylinders and not letting errors throw him off task or muddy his tennis level. Whether Fritz will manage to find away through him after their respective three-set battles, remains to be seen.
Picture source: Getty Images
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