Taylor Fritz has secured his spot in the semifinal of the National Bank Open after beating No. 6 seed Andrey Rublev.
On Tuesday night, August 5, the American tennis player emerged victorious 6-3, 7-6 (4) in a thrilling match against Rublev in Toronto.
The second-seeded Fritz finished with 20 aces, including one that finished off the match. He is set to face the winner of the late quarterfinal between No. 4 Ben Shelton of the U.S. and No. 9 Alex de Minaur of Australia.
Wednesday's other semifinal will see top-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany against No. 11 Karen Khachanov of Russia. The final is set to take place on Thursday, August 7.
Fritz came out strong, serving three aces to win the first game. He then broke Rublev's serve and won eight points in a row.
The 27-year-old, who sits fourth in the ATP Tour rankings and lost last year's US Open final to No. 1 Jannik Sinner, fired two more aces to go up 4-1 before serving out the set.
Aiming for his 11th ATP Tour victory, Fritz broke Rublev’s serve at 4-4 in the second set; however, the Russian returned the favour by taking a 6-5 lead before Fritz forced the tiebreaker.
Taylor Fritz lost in the Wimbledon semifinal to No. 2-ranked Carlos Alcaraz, who opted to sit out of the event along with a list of top players including Sinner, No. 5 Jack Draper and No. 6 Novak Djokovic.
