Top seed Taylor Fritz won the final five points in a decisive tiebreaker to defeat fellow American Sebastian Korda and advance to the semi-finals of the ATP Dallas Open on Friday.
World number seven Fritz fought back to defeat 53rd-ranked Korda 6-7 (2/7), 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) and book a place against 2014 US Open winner Marin Cilic of Croatia in the semifinals on Saturday.
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Fritz, now 4-1 in matches against Korda, hit 22 aces and won all four break points he faced to wrap things up in two hours and 30 minutes.
“I’m just (proud of) the way I handled those big moments in that game,” Fritz said. “He constantly put a lot of pressure on my serve. He played really well.”
Fritz also fought back after suffering a right elbow injury returning a Korda shot in the second set.
“I immediately felt a really sharp pain in my elbow, I served a serve afterwards – luckily I made it – and I knew at that point I had to call the physio. It was pretty bad,” Fritz said.
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“I had a few matches where I was really afraid that I was going to break my serve because I felt this pain, I’m going to lose this point, but then I took some painkillers, I started to feel better and then I started to trust it and it wasn’t even something I thought about for most of the second and third (sets).”
Leading 5-4 in the final tiebreaker, Korda sent two long forehands and Fritz fired a service winner on the final point for the triumph.
Cilic advanced by beating British qualifier Jack Pinnington Jones 6-1, 6-4.
Fritz is 2-1 in ATP play against Cilic, 37, winning on clay in Monte Carlo in 2022 and at Indian Wells in 2017, but losing a final in 2021 in St. Petersburg.
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Canadian Denis Shapovalov kept his title defense on track by beating third-seeded Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.
Shapovalov will next face second-seeded American Ben Shelton, who rallied for a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic.
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