By Tennis Now | Saturday, August 1, 2020
Jack Sock was a winner in three sets, including eding Taylor Fritz in singles, sparking the New York Empire to a 22-18 win over the Philadelphia Freedoms into the World TeamTennis Final.
Photo credit: World TeamTennis
Jack Sock realized a clear vision sending the New York Empire into the World TeamTennis Final.
Sock was a victor in three sets—men's doubles, mixed doubles and singles—as the Empire toppled top-seeded Philadelphia Freedoms 22-18 in today's first WTT semifinal at the Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
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Dancing around his backhand, Sock slapped a forehand winner down the line for match point then belted an inside-out forehand winner completing his 5-4 win over Taylor Fritz to wrap up a dramatic victory.
Sock had a simple game plan: Crunch his forehand with ambition.
"Obviously we know each other well," Sock said. "I was able to get him the first week playing well. So I mean we know each other well.
"Today was hot, which I think helped me a little bit. The ball was jumping a lot bouncing high, which kind of suits my game. I was just trying to look afor the forehand as much as possible."
Olympic gold-medal mixed doubles champion Sock partnered Neal Skupski to a 5-3 win over Fritz and Fabrice Martin to open this semifinal.
Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin fought off Coco Vandeweghe in women's singles. Sock and Vandeweghe, a former US Open doubles champion, steamrolled Taylor Townsend and Fritz, 5-1.
"[We wanted to] leave it all out there," Sock said. "Obviously, this could have been our last match so the energy was gonna be high. I'm just proud of our team that we were able to get through."
The Empire will play either the Chicago Smash or Orlando Storm in Sunday's noon final on CBS.