Taylor Fritz continued his quest for an Eastbourne hat-trick on Thursday at the Rothesay International, where the top seed ousted #NextGenATP Shang Juncheng 7-6(5), 7-6(5) to reach the semi-finals.
A two-time ATP 250 (2019, 2022) grass-court champion, Fritz dropped just four points on serve (50/54) and saved all four break points he faced to advance after one hour, 46 minutes. Despite failing to convert his five break chances, the American held his nerve in two tie breaks by relying on his first tennis.
“With the atmosphere and everything, that was the worst game to play, honestly,” Fritz said with relief. “I definitely feel good here. It’s hard to take too much from today. You won’t feel as good hitting the ball with the wind as it was. But if I can perform as well as I did today, even in this atmosphere, I’m very happy about that.”
Fritz in the final 4️⃣@Taylor_Fritz97 continues his outstanding record in Eastbourne with a 7-6(5) 7-6(5) win over Shang!@the_LTA | #RothesayInternational pic.twitter.com/S2zaORN6Ax
– ATP Tour (@atptour) June 27, 2024
In the fourth semi-final of the season, Fritz aims to become the first champion of this tournament three times. World No. 13 in the PIF ATP Rankings is yet to be broken this week.
The 26-year-old will face Aleksandar Vukic in the semi-finals after the Aussie’s 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5) win over Yoshihito Nishioka. Fritz holds a 1-0 Lexus ATP Head2Head record against Vukic, a seven-time tour number who lost in last year’s Atlanta final. A lucky loser, Vukic will be competing in his first ATP Tour semifinal since that Atlanta final. He matched his best from last season with 11 tour-level wins this year.
British teenager Billy Harris, fresh off a run to the ATP Tour quarterfinals at The Queen’s Club, went one better in Eastbourne by reaching the semi-finals. The 29-year-old improved to 3-3 against Top 50 opponents with a 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4), 6-2 victory against Flavio Cobolli.
Harris had only two breaks of the match in the final set and saved every break point against him, according to Infosys ATP Stats. He is the fifth British semi-finalist in the history of the Eastbourne tournament, joining Greg Rusedski (six times), Tim Henman (1997), Kyle Edmund (2019) and Jack Draper (2022).
He will meet Max Purcell on Friday after the Aussie’s 6-3, 7-6 (4) quarter-final win over Miomir Kecmanovic. The tournament advanced to the semi-finals of his second level tour (Eastbourne 2021).
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