TORONTO (AP) — Taylor Fritz beat No. 6 seed Andrey Rublev 6-3, 7-6 (4) on Tuesday night to reach the semifinals of the National Bank Open.
The second-seeded Fritz finished with 20 aces, including one that finished off the match. He will face the winner of the late quarterfinal between No. 4 Ben Shelton of the U.S. and No. 9 Alex de Minaur of Australia.
Wednesday’s other semifinal will see top-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany, the 2017 tournament winner in Montreal, take on No. 11 Karen Khachanov of Russia. The final is Thursday.
Fritz came out firing in hazy and breezy conditions with three aces to win the first game. He then broke Rublev in securing the match’s first eight points.
The 27-year-old American, who sits fourth in the ATP Tour rankings and lost last year’s U.S. Open final to No. 1 Jannik Sinner, fired two more aces to go up 4-1 before serving out the set.
Looking for his 11th ATP Tour victory — and second Masters 1000 crown — Fritz broke Rublev with the second set tied 4-4, but the Russian returned the favor to stay alive in the next game and went up 6-5 before Fritz forced the tiebreaker.
Fritz lost in the Wimbledon semis to No. 2-ranked Carlos Alcaraz, who along with a host of top players including Sinner, No. 5 Jack Draper and No. 6 Novak Djokovic all skipped this hard-court event expanded to two weeks in 2025.
Rublev lost in last year’s final to Australia’s Alexei Popyrin, when the event was played in Montreal. The 27-year-old from Moscow made the fourth round of both Wimbledon and the French Open.
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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
