Taylor Fritz wins delayed match to reach Shanghai Masters third round
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Taylor Fritz of the US hits a return to France's Terence Atmane during their match at the Shanghai Masters.
PHOTO: AFP
SHANGHAI – World No. 7 Taylor Fritz finally made it into the third round of the Shanghai Masters on Oct 7, two days after his match against France’s Terence Atmane had been suspended because of rain.
Resuming at 4-3 in the first set, the American defeated world No. 161 Atmane 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5).
“I thought he played really well and if I wasn’t on top of my game... I definitely could have lost that match,” said Fritz.
“I just stayed with it, and played solid in a lot of the big moments.”
He will next face Japanese qualifier Yosuke Watanuki.
World No. 10 Grigor Dimitrov also managed to finish a delayed match on Oct 7, beating Belgium’s Zizou Bergs 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
The Bulgarian will meet Australia’s Alexei Popyrin in the last 32.
“It’s been very challenging the last couple of days,” Dimitrov said.
“But we just have to make the most out of what we have.”
World No. 17 Frances Tiafoe ended Chinese hopes when he defeated Zhou Yi 6-2, 6-4.
“(Zhou) played a good match, obviously it seemed pretty one-sided, but the second set was very tough,” said Tiafoe after beating the last home player remaining in the draw.
In the third round, Tiafoe will meet Russian Roman Safiullin, who he called a “super dark horse”.
“He can beat a lot of guys... He’s had an up-and-down season, but he’s capable,” the American added.
Nine second-round matches have been delayed or rescheduled because of rain at the weekend.
The bad weather continued on Oct 7, causing further havoc to the schedule, with play suspended on outside courts.
In other news, four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka has pulled out of her home Japan Open because of an injury that caused her to retire from the China Open in Beijing.
“Due to injury, Naomi Osaka will not participate in the WTA 250 tournament in the city of Osaka from Oct 14-20,” the Japan Tennis Association said in a statement.
The 26-year-old former world No. 1 looked in good touch as she recorded three wins at the China Open.
But in her last-16 match, against eventual champion Coco Gauff, Osaka retired at the end of the second set because of a back injury.
“So I locked my back up during practice earlier and honestly wasn’t sure if I could even play but I just wanted to try,” she said on social media. “Unfortunately things just got progressively worse during the match.”
Her last WTA tournament appearance in her home country was a fleeting one, two years ago at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo.
She won a first-round match after one game when opponent Daria Saville retired.
Osaka then withdrew with abdominal pains before her second-round match.
It was her last tournament before taking leave to give birth to her daughter Shai in July 2023.
The world No. 58 returned to the tour in January but has struggled to recapture the form that saw her win two Australian and two US Opens between 2018 and 2021. AFP
