Taylor Fritz and Jared Donaldson salvaged the opening day of main-draw action at the Citi Open for the host nation. While local Washington, D.C. products Denis Kudla and Frances Tiafoe lost their matches on Monday, Fritz and Donaldson successfully battled into the second round.
With the highest ranking among the current crop of up-and-coming Americans at No. 67 in the world, Fritz continued his 2016 breakout on tour by taking care of Dudi Sela 6-4, 6-3 in a night match on the main court. The 18-year-old saved all seven of the break points he faced–four in the first set and three in the second. Not too surprisingly given that Fritz stands at 6’4” and Sela registers at 5’9”, the serve proved to be a major factor in this contest. Fritz fired 11 aces compared to two double-faults, while the diminutive Israeli finished with no aces and five doubles.
Not long after Fritz finished off Sela, Donaldson completed a 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 comeback at the expense of fellow qualifier Vincent Millot. The 19-year-old, ranked No. 153 in the world, broke serve five times before advancing in one hour and 57 minutes.
Next up for Donaldson on Tuesday is Benoit Paire; Fritz, meanwhile, is in line for a blockbuster showdown against 19-year-old German Alexander Zverev on Wednesday.
“It’s starting to get pretty normal now,” Zverev said of the highly-touted youngsters going head-to-head, even though he has never matched up with Fritz at the professional level. “It’s just another normal match.”
Fritz may have something to prove, too, because Zverev seemed to put his chips in the center of the Tiafoe table when he was asked about the group of young Americans.
“I really like the way Frances Tiafoe is playing,” the world No. 27 said. “He’s a very aggressive player. He’s still young, so he has to learn a little bit. I think he will be very dangerous in the future.”
Tiafoe showed flashes of his potential during Monday’s nightcap, but he could not find the consistency needed to upset the rock-solid Adrian Mannarino. Despite leading by a break in the opening set and by two breaks in the second, Tiafoe eventually succumbed 7-6(4), 7-5 after one hour and 38 minutes. The world No. 156 struck eight aces without double-faulting, but he won a mere 55 percent of the points even when he put his first serve in play. Mannarino, on the other hand, won 81 percent of his first-serve points.
Kudla joined Tiafoe on the sidelines with a disappointing 7-5, 6-0 setback against John Millman. In the other American result of the day, Bjorn Fratangelo scraped past compatriot Alex Kuznetsov 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
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Zverev-Fritz. Big match for both.
A-Z for da win.
Fritz ftw in three