The Italian dominated the American’s serve, who ended the match with a score of 6-2, 7-6 (1), 6-1 in two hours and nine minutes.
Just over two hours of play and only one set, the second, had been played: Matteo Berrettini had clearly surrendered to Taylor Fritz. There was hope for a balanced match against Louis Armstrong, and instead, an interesting second round of the US Open ended rather quickly in favor of the American, ranked 12th in the tournament: 6-3, 7-6(1) 6-1.
What a Fritz
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One of Fritz’s best performances (presented in Flushing Meadows with only one success between Toronto and Cincinnati) and a defeat that could pave the way for Matteo: there is still work to be done to get back to the top. But Taylor’s loss in New York is, in the end, part of the logic of things. Fritz is defending last year’s quarterfinalist at the US Open, and on the Italian night, he makes Berrettini feel his full weight.
The match
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The American plays a full match, with an impressive figure of eight missed points throughout the match on serve. The difficulties that Matteo has in returning are one of the keys to the match: even when there is a balance between the two – in the second set – in the end the balance always tilts in favor of the American. The tiebreak in the second set (seven points to one) controlled the final direction of the match, which began with a first set in which Berrettini had a “mistake” of serving only 38% of the first serves on the court, and suffered the decisive break. in the fourth game.
Reaction
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Matteo got things in order in the second set, increasing his serve and scoring several winners from his team’s baseline. It’s a pity that Fritz doesn’t give up on anything and finds more and more courage in response, reaches a tiebreak in good form and dominates the end of the set. Superiority that forced Berrettini to surrender: in the third set there is no more play. Matteo avoids the “bread” by winning the sixth game of the set, but now there is nothing left to do: the tournament for the blue team is over, Fritz will find Comesana and can lead the way. As happened last year, Berrettini said goodbye to New York in the second round. But if he left 2023 crying after injuring his ankle with Rinderkneich, now he returns home after losing to a great player and knowing that he can recover. Thus, even today we can see the glass half full.
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