American Taylor Fritz overcame a tough test from Lloyd Harris on Wednesday to reach the third round of the US Open and continue his dominant summer stretch.
The fourth-seeded Fritz, last year’s US Open runner-up, recovered from dropping the opening set to advance 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2, 6-4.
He was 0-for-8 on break point opportunities in the first two sets, then converted 5-of-7 in the last two.
Fritz is 23-5 since the conclusion of the French Open, the most tour-level wins by anybody on the men’s tour during that span. Right behind him is fellow American Ben Shelton (19-6), who was set to play later Wednesday in the night session at Louis Armstrong.
Fritz and Shelton are battling to be the No. 1-ranked American man at the conclusion of the tournament; with less points to defend, Shelton would have to reach the round of 16 and advance one round beyond Fritz to overtake him in the rankings.
Up next for Fritz is Swiss qualifier Jerome Kym, who took down American Brandon Nakashima 4-6, 7-6 (2), 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (8); the 30th seed came up short in his bid to become the fourth man to win multiple deciding-set tiebreaks in a single US Open since they were introduced in 1970.
Another American to fall Wednesday was Marcos Giron, who was on the receiving end of a massive comeback by Benjamin Bonzi on the heels of his eventful first-round win against Daniil Medvedev. Bonzi, a 29-year-old Frenchman, rallied from a two-set deficit to eliminate Giron 2-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.
ESPN Research contributed to this report.
