By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday Could 1, 2024
Taylor Fritz is the final American man standing at Madrid – and the primary American man to succeed in the semifinals within the Spanish capital since 2005 – due to his 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Francisco Cerundolo to shut out Wednesday’s night time session on the Caja Magical.
Fritz will face Andrey Rublev within the semifinals on Friday.
It was a banner day for Fritz in additional methods than one – he additionally earned his 250th win on tour to turn out to be simply the sixth participant born in 1995 or earlier to attain the feat.
250 wins or extra, born 1995 or earlier (as of Could 1, 2024)
Zverev, born 1997, 416
Medvedev, born 1996, 355
Tsitsipas, born 1998, 321
Rublev, born 1997, 311
Khachanov, born 1996, 261
Fritz, born 1997, 250
“I keep in mind the primary one,” Fritz mentioned, with a smile.
When requested what number of he thought he may at some point obtain, Fritz mentioned: “It simply is determined by if I keep wholesome now. I’ve been round for a extremely very long time – if I keep wholesome I may finish my profession as a kind of guys that’s fairly up there.”
Fritz needed to work exhausting to take out the Twenty first-seeded Argentinian. He made 79 p.c of his first serves and received 83 p.c of these factors, saving one of many two break factors he confronted.
He broke Cerundolo 3 times from six alternatives to enhance to 19-7 on the season.
“It was actually powerful from the bottom to be sincere,” Fritz mentioned. “I simply needed to attempt to hold within the match with my serve and battle via some factors regardless that I did not really feel tremendous snug enjoying the factors, and take my probabilities after I obtained them.”
Fritz, into his fourth semifinal on the Masters 1000 stage, owns a 5-3 lifetime document in opposition to Rublev, however misplaced their solely assembly on clay, final yr within the Monte-Carlo semifinals.
