By Erik Gudris | Thursday, February 11
18-year-old American Taylor Fritz upset No. 2 seed Steve Johnson to reach his first ever ATP quarterfinal in Memphis.
Photo Credit: AP
18-year-old Taylor Fritz earned an upset win to book his place in the last eight at the Memphis Open on Thursday night.
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Fritz faced off against fellow American No. 2 Steve Johnson in a first time meeting during their second round match. Though the 26-year old Johnson entered with more experience, it was Fritz who showed match toughness depite it being only his second year on tour.
Johnson took hold of an early break in the opening set. That lead didn’t last though as Johnson threw in several bad errors in a row midway through the set. Fritz soon broke back for 4-all.
Both men ended up in a tiebreak with Fritz taking early control. Though Fritz would jump out to a 6-2 lead, Johnson grinded his way back to 6-5. Fritz hit a topspin lob winner to finally take the set after over an hour 7-6(5).
Fritz broke Johnson to open the second set. But Johnson managed to break right back to level things at 1-all. While Johnson at times proved stronger from the backcourt, his forehand let him down on key points. Fritz meanwhile hit several scorching forehand winners to keep himself in the set.
Another tiebreak was needed to decide the set. Though Johnson took an early lead, Fritz used good serving to get himself back into it. Fritz eventually held a match point at 6-5. Yet Johnson erased that with an ace.
Fritz soon held another match point on Johnson’s serve at 8-7. With a backhand return winner, Fritz closed out the upset win 7-6(5), 7-6(7).
“It feels really good to win on home soil,” said Fritz, a former junior No. 1, just after the win.
Fritz rose over 1000 rankings points in 2015 in his first year on tour. Now ranked inside the world top 150, Fritz enjoyed his first ever top 30 win over Johnson. This is also Fritz’s first ever ATP main draw quarterfinal.
Other results from Memphis included Donald Young defeating Marcel Granollers 6-1, 7-6(2).