Following his three-hour victory against Andy Murray earlier on Friday, Taylor Fritz overpowered Jordan Thompson in less than half that time to progress to the semifinals at the Citi Open.
The top-seeded American won 6-3, 6-3 to extend his winning streak to seven matches, all on home soil, dating back to last week's Atlanta triumph run. He will face 12th seed Tallon Griekspoor on Saturday, after the Dutchman defeated both Gael Monfils and J.J. Wolf on Friday, after splitting sets with Monfils when play was interrupted by rain on Thursday evening.
"I've put in a lot of work the last couple of weeks before coming here. I knew that this is one of the most physically demanding parts of the season, playing in the heat. I definitely wasn't training and preparing to play two matches in a day, especially one following a three-hour match," ATP.com quoted Fritz as saying in a post-match.
"I came out tonight in the second match playing really well, being aggressive. I got early breaks in both sets, which was kind of my strategy, to kind of give it everything I had early, get up a break, and then I could coast a bit and focus on my serve games," he added.
Fritz saved the only two break points he faced in the first set against Thompson, both at 3-1. After eliminating eight of eight break points in the first round against American qualifier Zachary Svajda and eight of nine against Murray, he has now saved 18 of 19 break points this week.
Earlier in the same day, Fritz extended his winning streak with a comeback triumph against Andy Murray at the Citi Open. In a clash that was delayed from Thursday evening by rain, the Atlanta champion earned a 6-7,(2), 6-3, 6-4 triumph after three hours of action on the stadium court.
"The main thing is just making sure my body is going to be feeling good. It feels good now, but after all the tennis and all the playing, who knows how I'm going to wake up feeling tomorrow. I just have to take care of myself," Fritz said.
In the bottom half of the D.C. draw, Grigor Dimitrov advanced to the semis by walkover over Ugo Humbert, who was forced to withdraw due to a left leg injury. On Saturday, the fifth-seeded Bulgarian will face ninth-seeded Daniel Evans, who stunned local favourite Frances Tiafoe after beating Alexander Shevchenko in the afternoon.
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