Fritz Crushes Canadian Hopes at ATP Toronto Masters

AFP | Toronto

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Second seed Taylor Fritz ended home hopes at the ATP Toronto Masters on Friday with a dominant 6-4, 6-2 win over Canada’s Gabriel Diallo, advancing to the last 16.

The American, who’s aiming to reach the quarterfinals in Canada for the first time — the only Masters event where he hasn’t — took just 77 minutes to seal the win and book a clash with Czech Jiri Lehecka. Lehecka advanced earlier by defeating France’s Arthur Fils 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Fritz controlled the match from the baseline, breaking Diallo once in the first set and never looking back.

“It was important not to let him get into the match and get the crowd going,” Fritz said. “I felt way more comfortable than I did in my opening match — confident, aggressive, striking the ball well. I did a solid job of holding and not letting him back into either set.”

Elsewhere, fourth seed Ben Shelton battled past fellow American Brandon Nakashima in a late-night thriller. After dropping the first set, Shelton stormed back to win 6-7 (8/10), 6-2, 7-6 (7/5), firing 19 aces and 46 winners.
Shelton now faces Flavio Cobolli, who defeated Fabian Marozsan 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

“I’ve got to find my fire from somewhere — I live off that energy,” Shelton said. “Night matches are tough. Conditions change, and it takes a bit of luck to come back against a big server like Brandon.”

Sixth seed Andrey Rublev also booked his place in the fourth round, rallying to beat Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. Sonego double-faulted on match point. Rublev next faces Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who beat him earlier this year in Barcelona and advanced with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Jakob Mensik.

Seventh seed Frances Tiafoe had to dig deep to overcome Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

“It was an ugly match — the ball was flying. But it doesn’t matter how, you just have to compete,” said Tiafoe, who now faces Aussie Alex de Minaur. De Minaur advanced via walkover after compatriot Christopher O’Connell withdrew with an injury.