Francisco Cerundolo came back from two sets down to knock out Taylor Fritz at the US Open.
It was a good start from the former finalist who went up 3-0 in the opening stages of the match with Cerundolo committing a lot of errors.
The American was serving and returning well as he was hitting his spots well and took a two set lead at 6-3 6-4.
It looked like it was going to be Fritz’s day when he broke in the opening game of the third set but that was the turning point for Cerundolo.
Their Argentinian elevated his level and broke twice in the second and sixth games on his way to taking the third set 6-3.
It was an efficient fourth set from Cerundolo who saved a break point in the second game before breaking in the seventh game to take this match into a deciding set.
In the fifth set Fritz was the more dominant on serve and looked like he had the momentum when he had 0-40 in the eighth game.
However, Cerundolo played some bold and proactive tennis to save all three break points before he broke in the ninth game.
The Argentinian closed out the win from 0-30 as he won four consecutive points and produced one of the best wins of his career.
After the match Cerundolo described the win as ‘fantastic,’ “He was playing way better than me the first two sets,” Cerundolo admitted in his post-match interview on the ATP website.
“I wasn’t feeling comfortable at all. But after I broke back in the third, I started getting into it step by step, and I think the fourth and fifth I played really good tennis. I wasn’t finding that tennis in the previous sets or previous rounds. Taylor is a top player. He made the final here and won a lot of matches, so I know how hard it is to play against him. But winning here, on my first time on Ashe, is fantastic.”
As for Fritz it’s back to the drawing board as he will see this as a massive missed opportunity for him.
Cerundolo will now play Alexander Blockx in the last 16 after the Belgian stunned Roland Garros finalist Flavio Cobolli in four sets.
It was a stunning performance from Blockx who defeated the Italian 6-7(4) 6-3 6-0 6-3 to reach the last 16 in New York for the first time.
