Fritz flies by Berrettini to reach US Open third round, Ruud beats Monfils

Taylor Fritz produced a dominant performance Wednesday at the US Open, where the 12th seed downed 2019 semi-finalist Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 7-6(1), 6-1 to reach the third round.

The American No. 1 earned an early break against the 6’5” Italian and rarely looked back. Fritz raced through his service games and dropped just four points behind his hefty first delivery — and as many behind his second serve.

Fritz played tight to the baseline on return, countering the usual monstrous serving of Berrettini with early, compact cuts at the ball. Across two hours and nine minutes, Fritz committed 18 unforced errors.

"I came in really focused. I felt like I was just locked in every point, something I was kind of upset with myself about my first-round match," Fritz said. "I was just ready to go. Matteo is an extremely good player, a super tough second round. So I came in extra locked in."

Following his second-round victory, Fritz became the fourth man to record 40 match wins this season behind Alexander Zverev (54), Jannik Sinner (49) and Casper Ruud (46). Carlos Alcaraz will join that group with a win Thursday. The California native Fritz remained perfect against Berrettini, improving to 4-0 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

Last year’s quarter-finalist next faces Francisco Comesana. The Argentine, No. 108 in the PIF ATP Rankings, earlier ousted 17th seed Ugo Humbert 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

Casper Ruud survived the evening New York rain and Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(3). The match was halted due to rain with Monfils leading 4-3 in the fourth set, but the eighth seed avoided any late-night drama by playing a near-flawless tie-break to advance after two hours, 55 minutes.

The 2022 finalist, who committed 23 unforced errors to Monfils’ 57, next meets #NextGenATP Shang Juncheng.