Taylor Fritz has continued his fine Grand Slam form by storming into the third round of the Australian Open.
ATP number four Fritz took just one hour and 22 minutes to thrash Cristian Garin 6-2, 6-1, 6-0 on Margaret Court Arena.
Fritz convincingly beat Jenson Brooksby in round one, with the fourth seed starting his Australian Open by defeating his compatriot 6-2, 6-0, 6-3.
American Fritz is aware of Australian Open upsets, but he managed to avoid one against Chilean qualifier Garin, who secured one of his own against Borna Coric in round one.
But his dream run was ended by the US Open finalist, who now meets veteran Gael Monfils in round three.
Taylor Fritz ‘felt fine’ despite hyperextending his knee at Australian Open
With Australian Open wins over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and Daniel Altmaier, the Frenchman is certain to cause problems for the American.
But Fritz is also contending with a knee injury ahead of the match, having shared the extent of the problem in his post-match press conference.
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Discussing what happened and how it felt, he noted: “Yeah, I just hyperextended my knee running for a ball, which could probably be a bigger problem for some other people.
“But my knees just hyperextend a lot and are very flexible. I kind of just jammed it. It hurt for, like, 30 seconds, like a minute.
“I kind of had to take a second for the pain to go away. Test it, make sure it was fine. Yeah, after I just kind of take a second, I felt fine.
“There was maybe like a little bit of pain when I took it the other way. Maybe did like a full bend on it. But not really any situations on the court where I’m going into that position. So it’s fine.”
And asked how it could feel a day later, he replied: “I would expect it just to be a little sore. I really think I’m going to be totally fine.”
Taylor Fritz and Gael Monfils set for Australian Open reunion
A very intriguing match-up now awaits Australian Open fans, with Fritz and Monfils set to go head-to-head on the hard court.
The latter is enjoying a fairytale run at the age of 38, which began with a stunning five-set win over rising star Mpetshi Perricard.
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Three of their five sets went to tie-breaks, with the elder Frenchman finally beating his younger compatriot after three hours and 46 minutes.
Monfils will have then been grateful for his straight set win over Altmaier in round two, but there is likely to be a fatigue imbalance in his next match given Fritz’s less-demanding run.
The pair have met just once before, with the American knocking the Frenchman out of the 2019 Australian Open in the second round.
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