Taylor Fritz continued his impressive run at the Miami Open with a big win over Matteo Berrettini.
The American star had only reached one ATP Tour quarter-final in 2025 before heading to Miami, losing to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in Delray Beach last month.
Turning things around in the Sunshine State, Fritz beat Lorenzo Sonego, Denis Shapovalov, and Adam Walton to advance to the quarter-finals.
Playing for a spot in the semi-finals, Fritz beat Matteo Berrettini in a three-set thriller, finally converting his seventh match point to win, 7-5, 6-7 [7-9], 7-5.
After the match, Fritz explained how he approaches his matches with Berrettini differently than with any other player in men’s tennis.
Taylor Fritz says he returns much closer to the baseline when playing Matteo Berrettini
Speaking after his Miami Open quarter-final win over the Italian, Fritz revealed the tactical change he makes when playing Berrettini.
“I think, to be honest, if you watch any of the matches specifically against Matteo [Berrettini], I feel like I return like I did tonight in a lot of our matchups,” he said.
“It is very far off of how I normally position to return.
“Typically I am more comfortable being a bit more back and giving myself more time but against him his serve is too good and it is too comfortable, it gives him too much time to find the forehand when I am returning far back.
“I return in a really off way, where I am almost jumping into his first serve, taking it inside the baseline, chipping the forehands, and trying to use my timing and my hands to make something off of the backhand.
“It’s always given me a lot of success playing against him returning like that, so I wanted to stick with it today.”
Fritz won 41 receiving points to Berrettini’s 25 in their quarter-final clash, as the American returned well on his way to a fifth career win over the Italian.
| Match | Winner | Loser | Score |
| 2025 Miami Open – QF | Taylor Fritz | Matteo Berrettini | 7-5, 6-7, 7-5 |
| 2024 US Open – 2R | Taylor Fritz | Matteo Berrettini | 6-3, 7-6, 6-1 |
| 2023 United Cup – F | Taylor Fritz | Matteo Berrettini | 7-6, 7-6 |
| 2021 Indian Wells – 3R | Taylor Fritz | Matteo Berrettini | 6-4, 6-3 |
| 2019 Davis Cup Finals – RR | Taylor Fritz | Matteo Berrettini | 5-7, 7-6, 6-2 |
Remaining unbeaten against Berrettini with his latest win, Fritz will no doubt continue using the same tactics when the pair next face off on the ATP Tour.
Taylor Fritz says ‘fatigue is never an issue’ when playing Matteo Berrettini
Most players would feel the effects of a three-set war in the Floridian heat, but that wasn’t the case for Fritz on Thursday, as he explained how his matches with Berrettini aren’t the most physically taxing.
“I think one thing when you are playing the rallies and all of this, the match becomes a bit more physical,” he said.
“In this match we are playing a lot of short points.
“I never have to think about… I can play every point as hard as possible, run like crazy for everything, I know that fatigue is never going to be an issue in a match where there is so much big serving and short points.”
Fritz also spoke about how important it is to stay focused during matches that are won by the smallest of margins.
“Rhythm wise, I think the biggest thing is that you just have to stay really focused because one off game where I make some mistakes, I don’t have that rhythm, and the match is basically just over,” he said.
“You really have to lock in and take care of serve and [the] first ball.”
He certainly locked in against Berrettini, as he advanced to his first career Miami Open semi-final with a huge win over the former Wimbledon finalist.
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