Taylor Fritz beats Gabriel Diallo in Toronto, no repeat of Wimbledon drama

Toronto

Fritz downs Diallo in Toronto, no repeat of Wimbledon drama

Second seed next meets Lehecka

Peter Power/Tennis Canada Taylor Fritz is seeking his third title of the season. By ATP Staff

Exactly 30 days removed from their Wimbledon five-set thriller, Taylor Fritz avoided such theatrics in a rematch against Gabriel Diallo at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers on Friday. Fritz, seeded second in Toronto, ousted the last remaining Canadian 6-4, 6-2.

Eyeing his second ATP Masters 1000 crown and first since his dream run at Indian Wells in 2022, Fritz appeared more comfortable in his second match of the week than his opener, after which he said, “Even in practice, I’ve had such a hard time just literally putting the ball in the court”. The 27-year-old broke 6’8” Diallo’s serve to love in the opening game of the match and in the second set, earned his first of two breaks at 1-1 despite trailing 0/40 that game. Holding the advantage in forehand to forehand rallies, Fritz needed just 75 minutes to advance.

“I thought it was really important to not let him get back in. [If] he gets a break back, he gets fired up with the crowd, momentum kind of shifts. I felt like a lot could have changed if I let up on a service game,” said Fritz, who dropped just three points behind his first serve (23/26). “Even the games that I didn’t serve my best in, I felt like I backed it up really well from the baseline, so I’m happy with that.”

The No. 4 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, Fritz is now 34-13 on the season, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, highlighted by triumphs at the grass events in Stuttgart and Eastbourne. Fritz this fortnight is attempting to complete the set of quarter-finals at all nine ATP Masters 1000 events.

Up next for Fritz is 19th seed Jiri Lehecka, the Czech whom the California native leads 3-0 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series. Sunday will mark their first meeting since 2023. Lehecka rallied past 15th seed Arthur Fils 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to advance.

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