Taylor Fritz confirmed his status as America’s number one player after he beat Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo at the Madrid Open yesterday.
Fritz has reclaimed his position as the highest-ranked American player in the ATP rankings recently, surpassing Ben Shelton, and his performance against Cerundolo showcased the form that the 26-year-old is in right now.
Fritz has put in some impressive displays in the Spanish capital over the last week, with his run to the semi-finals really catching the eye.
Taylor Fritz achieves unique milestone
Against Cerundolo, the big-serving base-liner actually looked as if he could stroll his way to success after winning the first set 6-1.
Cerundolo did recover to put up a fight and take the second set, but Fritz found a way to win in the decider and ended up victorious.
With that triumph, he became the first American player for 19 years to reach the semi-final of the Madrid Open.
The last US player to achieve this milestone was Robby Ginepri in 2005, who then went on to lose to former world number one Rafael Nadal in straight sets in the next round.
Could Taylor Fritz become the second American to win in Madrid?
Fritz has had a miss or hit this season. The San Diego-born star produced some very impressive performances in 2024, along with some very average outings.
Before coming to Madrid, the current world number 13 has had deep runs at the Australian Open, BMW Munich Open and Delray Beach Open but he has also been knocked out of the first round of an event on three occasions.
Those results clearly show that Fritz has not been consistent. Despite that, he has a big opportunity to register his name in the history books this week.
Fritz has the chance to become only the second American player to win this prestigious tournament, following in the footsteps of the former world number one Andre Agassi.
He will face Russia’s Andrey Rublev in the semi-final of the competition on Friday.
What Taylor Fritz said after beating Francisco Cerundolo
“I returned really well in the first set, put a lot of balls in play,” Fritz said in his press conference.
“To be honest he was making some mistakes so it made me look a lot better and I was finding some balls to attack on for sure. The second set and third set, I feel he got a lot more solid. He was not giving me anything for free and it was really hard to hit through him and find balls to attack on. He was getting the backhand through the court.
“It was tough to look for forehands. It was really tough from the ground but I just had to hang in the match with my serve and fight through some points even though I didn’t feel super comfortable. I took my chance when I got it.”
