Tsitsipas, Fritz set Australian Open fourth-round showdown

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Stefanos Tsitsipas and Taylor Fritz are set to meet at the Australian Open for the second time after both men advanced to the fourth round with Friday wins in Melbourne. Tsitsipas, who leads their Lexus ATP Head2Head series 3-1, won their 2022 AO meeting at the same stage, though Fritz claimed their most recent matchup at the 2023 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.

Returning finalist Tsitsipas scored his first straight-sets win of this fortnight with a 6-3, 6-0, 6-4 result against #NextGen ATP Frenchman Luca Van Assche. After a dominant start fuelled by vicious cuts off his forehand wing, Tsitsipas battled out of a 0-3 hole in the third set to improve to 24-6 at what he calls his home Grand Slam.

Having lost the opening set in each of the first two rounds against Zizou Bergs and Aussie Jordan Thompson, Tsitsipas made a concerted effort to start quickly on this occasion in Rod Laver Arena.

"My team tried, but ultimately it's my decision if I'm going to be fired up or not," he joked in his on-court interview. "I felt like I had a sore start in both [previous] matches and I just wanted something different this time. It's not easy always having to fight back and show your best tennis in the second set. I wanted to go out here today and show that passionate and determined Stef from the very beginning."

In a battle of former junior World No. 1s, the Greek ripped 36 winners, including 12 aces, across two hours of play. Using his big-match experience to find his best tennis in the crucial moments, Tsitsipas saved eight of nine break points against him while converting on six of his eight opportunities on return.

Sock trouble and all, @Taylor_Fritz97 still finds a way past Marozsan 3-6 6-4 6-2 6-2.@AustralianOpen | #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/8GXn3nw5Me

— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 19, 2024

Soon after Tsitsipas booked his place in the Melbourne fourth-round for a fifth time, Fritz advanced to that stage for the second time with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 win against Fabian Marozsan. It is Fritz's fourth time into the last 16 at a Grand Slam, including his fourth-round AO run in 2022 and quarter-finals at Wimbledon (2022) and the US Open (2023).

Marozsan enjoyed early success by finding Fritz's backhand and keeping the American off balance with timely drop shots, but Fritz countered those tactics with increasing effect as the match wore in. The 12th seed's deep hitting allowed him to take the initiative in points and he ran out a comfortable winner after two hours, 23 minutes.