Taylor Fritz has made history today with his win over Grigor Dimitrov, overcoming the loss of a second-set tiebreak to win the match 6-2, 6-7(11), 6-1.
The USA number one once again went unbroken despite conceding plenty of break points, but his 32-year-old opponent simply could not break down the thunderous serve of the eventual winner.
This marks a third impressive run on clay this season already, and he truly is buying into the jovial nickname handed to him by his fans: Claylor Fritz.
Signing the camera with the word ‘Claylor’ only reinforced this notion, as he went about his business with minimal fuss to cruise into the latter stages of another Masters 1000 event.
Taylor Fritz makes USA tennis history
The history that Fritz made by beating Dimitrov is a rather unassuming statistic, but has allowed him to stand alone as the sole male American tennis player to accomplish this feat.
This was relayed by journalist Jose Morgado, who would take to X after his win to write: ‘Taylor Fritz is the FIRST EVER man from the United States to reach at least the QFs in three different clay court Masters 1000. Claylor, indeed.’
So, that means legendary figures like Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and John McEnroe all failed to do what Fritz has currently done.
He has now tasted victory on 11 occasions on this surface in 2024, whilst losing a mere three matches. That 72% win rate is the highest he has enjoyed in years.
With Roland Garros just around the corner too, the sky truly is the limit for this reborn superstar.
Taylor Fritz could thrive at Roland Garros
Fritz has been a joy to watch of late, with the way in which he carries his slender 6 foot 4 frame across the tricky clay courts.
He is supremely graceful yet boasts a monster serve, the latter of which has really pulled him out of some tricky situations in the last few weeks.
Today was no different, bailing him out when Dimitrov seemed poised to finally break him and capitalise on his ascendency.
But Fritz’s physicality has not only been enhanced, but so too has his mental toughness, using every inch of it to bypass the Bulgarian and reach yet another Masters 1000 quarter-finals.
There are few people left in the draw who he should really fear, and in the form he is in, there are arguably few on the planet who would stop him at the moment.
He seems like a real outside favourite to cause trouble at Roland Garros later this month, capitalising on the power vacuum that has left Andy Roddick somewhat baffled of late.
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