NEW YORK (Reuters) – Denis Shapovalov won the battle of North American young guns by grinding out a 3-6 6-3 4-6 7-6(5) 6-2 win over Taylor Fritz on Friday to move into the U.S. Open fourth round.
The match played out exactly as one would expect from two of tennis’s rising talents with the 12th-seeded Canadian Shapovalov and 19th seeded American Fritz engaged in a seesaw tussle.
The entertaining 3-1/2 hour match in an empty Arthur Ashe stadium ended with 21-year-old Shapovalov back in the 1ast 16 at Flushing Meadows for the first time since he made his U.S. Open debut in 2017.
The big-serving Fritz had a chance to serve out the match at 5-3 in the fourth but Shapovalov grabbed the break he needed to drag the set to a tiebreak which he won.
Recharged by his rally, it was the Canadian who raced ahead 3-0 in the fifth before closing out the contest with another break when Fritz’s return sailed long.
Next up for Shapovalov is Belgium seventh seed David Goffin who was a 6-1 7-6(5) 6-4 winner over Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic.
(Reporting by Steve Keating; Editing by Ken Ferris)
