Fritz Upsets Rublev In Paris
Taylor Fritz recorded his third Top 10 win of the year on Wednesday at the Rolex Paris Masters. The American held his nerve to beat fifth-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev 7-5, 7-6(2) in 80 minutes, raising his playing level at the end of each set.
Fritz, last week's St. Petersburg Open finalist (l. to Cilic), has now won 10 of his past 12 matches. He will next challenge 10th-seeded Briton and Nitto ATP Finals hopeful Cameron Norrie in the third round on Thursday.
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The pair's fourth ATP Head2Head meeting looked set for a tie-break in the first set, but Fritz broke to love in the 12th game after Rublev struck a forehand into the net. Rublev was unable to convert his only break point chance at 1-1, 30/40 in second set and paid the price. Fritz produced a strong performance in the tie-break, which ended with a forehand crosscourt winner.
Fritz beat World No. 7 Matteo Berrettini, No. 14-ranked Jannik Sinner and No. 4 Alexander Zverev last month en route to the BNP Paribas Open semi-finals in Indian Wells (l. to Basilashvili).
Rublev, who is now 48-20 on the season that includes the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament crown (d. Fucsovics), will now prepare to compete at the season finale, to be held at the Pala Alpitour in Turin from 14-21 November. The Russian also finished as runner-up in 2021 at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters (l. to Tsitsipas), the NOVENTI OPEN in Halle (l. to Humbert) and the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati (l. to Zverev).