Tennis News: American tennis player Taylor Fritz showed a stunning performance in the second round of the Mexican Open 2023, Acapulco against Denis Shapovalov.
The world number 5 converted three of the five break point chances he created en route to beating Canada’s Shapovalov 6-4 6-4 in 78 minutes. He also fired 20 winners, including seven aces to reach the quarter-finals of the Mexican Open for the third time in five appearances at the ATP 500-level tournament.
“I feel good with the way I played in most crucial points of this game,” Fritz said. “I played very aggressively at those points. I don’t really like it when I play very tight and safe at crucial moments. I feel really good when I play aggressively and take advantage of it.
The opponent for the third seed in the quarterfinals of this week’s Mexican Open will be compatriot Frances Tiafoe. He led their head to head 5-1. The sixth seed beat Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez 6-2, 7-6 in the second round.
The 25-year-old admitted his friendship with Tiafoe added something extra to their encounters on the pitch, including their last encounter in the Tokyo final in October last season.
“Frances and I are very close friends, but we are also rivals on the pitch,” Fritz explains. “We’ve played a lot of games against each other and I know I usually watch these games like any other game, but I feel like every time we play maybe there’s a little bit of extra pressure. I think we both really want to fight.
The winner of the match between Fritz and Tiafoe will face one of their compatriots in the semi-finals of the Mexican Open. Seventh seed Tommy Paul was leading 6-4 2-2 when his opponent and compatriot Michael Mmoh withdrew from their match and in the quarter-finals he will face Mackenzie McDonald who crushed his compatriot Brandon Nakashima 6-2, 6 -0.
Article tags: Tennis, Mexican Open, Taylor Fritz, Denis Shapovalov, Frances Tiafoe
“Social media fanatic. Problem solver. Bacon ninja. Communicator. Alcohol evangelist.”
