Taylor Fritz turned out to be better in the matchup between two top ranked Americans in the quarterfinal of ATP 500 Acapulco event. Fritz, who entered the top 5 this week as the first player from US since 2009, was a favorite before the match with Tiafoe, who is currently ranked in 15th place. Taylor was the more effective player in the key points during those match, as he gained a break advantage early in both sets. Tiafoe did not give up and forced his fellowcountry to make some effort to take the win, as he was producing the breakpoint chances after getting broken both in first and second set. Especially the second phase of the match could bring some turnover, as Tiafoe was close to break Fritz in 4th and 6th game, but Fritz came out of trouble with a style, winning whole the amatch 6-3 6-4 eventually.
It was not a perfect performance from world's number 5, who scored just 50% of first serve accuracy. The top ranked American was self-critical in post-match interview: "I am happy with how I played the big points. It is really easy to get frustrated with myself when I'm missing every first serve. It is really easy to get down on myself for that, and I kind of just fought it out, accepted that I am going to have to play and grind out all these points and I wasn't going to be getting the amount of free points that I am used to getting. I am proud of how I competed through a lot of those long games on my serve."
Fritz will line-up another all-American clash in semifinal, playing against Tommy Paul. The current Australian Open semifinalists crushed his another fellowcountry Mackenzie Mcdonald, scoring an impressive win 6-2 6-2 in just 61 minutes of play.
The thursday's on-court action in Acapulco did not bring too much emotions, as all the quarterfinal matches ended up with confident wins earned by the favorites. Alex De Minaur gave no chances for Taro Daniel, who advanced into quarters after making a huge upset on Casper Ruud in previous round. The Aussie routined his lower-ranked opponent 6-2 6-2. Holger Rune and Matteo Berretini were the pairing, which foreshadowed a possible great tennis spectacle on the main court in Acapulco. It not happened though, as the Italian was struggling with pain in his right leg, which was ruthlessly capitalized by Rune, who won the opening set 6-0. Berrettini retired from the match after first game of second set, giving the Dane an advance to semifinal after just 30 minutes of play.
Here are the QFs highights:
