American Men Shine in Washington D.C. Second Round

By Erik Gudris | @ATNTennis | Wednesday, August 3, 2022

American males loved house crowd help amid sizzling circumstances within the second spherical of this week’s Citi Open in Washington D.C.

Prime ranked American Taylor Fritz loved a moderately easy 6-4, 6-3 win over Australia’s Alexei Popyrin.

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Fritz earned a late service break in every set towards the Australian after which saved two break factors within the last recreation earlier than closing out the win. Fritz continues his hunt for a 3rd title this season having received at Indian Wells and Eastbourne earlier this 12 months.

“I felt fairly good. I performed a reasonably strong match,” Fritz stated afterwards. “You understand, there are some issues that I may do higher, however after, you already know, sort of being in a boot for a few weeks, not taking part in an excessive amount of, then sort of beginning up once more final week, and likewise coming within the match probably not positive how my foot was going to really feel, like I’ve to be actually pleased with the way it felt and the way I performed.

“Contemplating the preparation main in, I felt it was a very strong match.”

Fritz subsequent faces No. 16 seed Daniel Evans of Nice Britain.

The upset of the day belonged to American J.J. Wolf who has simply entered the ATP prime 100 rankings. Wolf battled by a gathering of his fellow 23-year previous Denis Shapovalov earlier than prevailing 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3.

Wolf finally proved extra profitable on each his first and second serves within the match as he notched a powerful 81 p.c win charge on his first serve.

Wolf subsequent faces No. 9 seed Holger Rune for a spot within the quarterfinals.

Within the night session, native favourite and No. 10 seed Frances Tiafoe received previous wildcard Christopher Eubanks 6-3, 7-6(2).

Afterward, Tiafoe talked about what it might imply to win his hometown occasion.

“Big. I imply, I feel the nearer, nearer you get to the enterprise finish of the week, I feel huge factors, huge alternatives,” Tiafoe stated. “Enjoying right here in D.C., truthfully, I imply, it may very well be if it was a 250 or no matter, it is right here in D.C., 500, I imply, to win this match would imply the world to me.

“I’ve been coming to this match since I used to be 4 years previous. To have my identify across the stadium would imply loads to me.”

Within the second night time match, unseeded Nick Kyrgios took care of No. 14 seed Tommy Paul 6-3, 6-4.

The largest upset of the day belonged to Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori who took out No. 2 seed Hubert Hurkacz 6-4, 7-6(3).