Fritz Getting Comfortable Just In Time in Toronto National Bank Open

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A couple nights ago, No. 2 seed Taylor Fritz came within two points of losing his quarter-final match to a resurgent Jiri Lehecka. After pulling a Houdini act and narrowly escaping with that win in three tiebreak sets, Fritz returned to Centre Court on Tuesday night laser-focused on reaching his first semifinal at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers.

Having previously failed to win back-to-back matches in five of his six appearances at this event, Fritz has now won four matches in a row in Toronto. In front of a full house at Sobeys Stadium, the American showed signs of the kind of form that had propelled him to his first Grand Slam final at the U.S. Open last year, overcoming a late-match wobble to topple No. 6 seed Andrey Rublev, 6-3, 7-6(4).

“I would say tonight I felt the best about my game, just striking the ball-wise,” Fritz told the media after his victory. “I feel like all week it's kind of been flying, tough to control, easy to miss the ball. It's not just me — just watching any of the other matches, I can see people are hitting the ball a lot softer than they normally do, they're playing a lot safer, people are making more mistakes. I think conditions here, it's just tough in general to play. Tonight, for sure, it was the most I felt like I could control the ball, and also go after it and feel like I was confident in where it was going. That's obviously a good thing going into the semis.”

Fritz was dialled in from the start, reeling off the first eight points of the match to immediately jump ahead by an early break. For the first hour of the match, the American looked particularly imperious in his service games, refusing to give Rublev even a half-chance at a break point while continuing to make inroads in most of his return games.

After securing a seemingly decisive break at 4-all in the second set, Fritz played his first loose service game of the match, hitting two double faults and netting a handful of routine crosscourt backhands to surrender the break right back. It was the first time that Fritz had been broken since his debut match at this year’s event against Spain’s Roberto Caraballes Baena.

On the pressure points in the tiebreak, Fritz was able to find his first serve again, hitting his 20th ace on match point to cap off the 81-minute win. All of his numbers from the line were particularly impressive — he maintained a high first-serve percentage throughout (67%), and won 79% of his first-serve points and 64% of his second-serve points.

“I would say especially the last two matches, I just feel like any time I've been a bit under pressure I've been coming up with good serves, getting a lot of free points with it,” Fritz said of his serve. “I've been hitting all the spots pretty well. I think that's just the big thing — it feels like it's flowing.”

Speaking to reporters after the match, Rublev was refreshingly frank about how he saw the second set — and the match — slip from his grasp, pointing out that Fritz “served unbelievable” for much of the encounter.

“In the second set I played one bad game at 4-all. And the same happened to him, he played one bad game,” Rublev said. “When I was serving and he broke me, he was super focused. When I broke him, he didn't play well, and I was super focused and I was able to break him. That's it. The tiebreak was unlucky. I had three forehands to go for the shot, and I missed them, so [there’s] not much to say.”

Earlier in the tournament, Fritz told reporters about how winning a lot of free points behind his first serve ultimately helps open up the rest of his game. As the 12-day event has progressed, the World No. 4 has gradually grown more comfortable with the conditions in Toronto, where the court plays quicker than most North American hard court events, including the U.S. Open.

“I think it's a combination of the court with the balls,” he explained. “I think if we played with the Dunlop ball it wouldn't feel unplayable, just because the Dunlop ball's a lot softer, so the softer ball's going to [decelerate] more when it hits the court, and it's going to hold on your racquet a bit more when you make contact, so you can kind of feel like you have a little bit more control.

“Like I said, tonight was by far the most playable for me — the most control I felt like I had all week. But yeah, in a lot of other matches, I'm hitting shots and missing balls that it seems crazy. My match two nights ago, I feel like I'm sometimes hitting backhands all the same, and then two go in and one goes 10 feet out, and they all felt the same to me. It is very tough to play,” he continued. “Nowadays, I think the ball makes a bigger difference than the courts, in terms of how fast and hard it is to play. These balls are not bad balls, but they're the toughest to control, and they're the liveliest, for sure. I think when you combo that with a fast court, it's pretty tough for everyone to play.”

On Wednesday night, for a place in Thursday’s championship, Fritz will face off against his compatriot and former doubles partner, No. 4 seed Ben Shelton, who looked particularly dominant in his own service games — apart from one mid-match break of serve — during his straight-sets win over No. 9 seed and recent Washington champion Alex de Minaur.

“I feel like when we played the first time his serve was still huge. Maybe the spots [he hits] are better. His serve was really good when I played him,” Fritz said of the pair’s first meeting at Indian Wells in 2023, which Fritz won in three sets. “It's kind of funny, we've been in the same draw bracket several times, and every single time one of us just loses before we meet each other.”

The ATP's best return to Toronto this summer for the National Bank Open presented by Rogers July 26 to Aug. 7, 2025 at Sobeys Stadium. 2025 Tickets are on sale. Get your tickets today!

Feature Photo : Tyler Anderson