Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
American star Taylor Fritz has crashed out in the third round of the US Open, losing to Argentine Francisco Cerundolo 3-6 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-4 in his earliest exit from his home major in four years.
Ninth seed Fritz had not dropped a set in the previous two rounds and looked to be among the prime contenders to end a 23-year US men’s major drought but Cerundolo brought his best level on Saturday to rally from two sets and a break down and reach the fourth round of the Open for the first time.
“I don’t know how I let that happen today,” 2024 runner-up Fritz told reporters at his post-match press conference.
“He was playing way better than me the first two sets,” said Cerundolo, who played on Arthur Ashe Stadium for the first time and next faces Belgian Alexander Blockx, who upset fifth-seeded Italian Flavio Cobolli 6-7 6-3 6-0 6-3.
“I started getting into it step by step and I think fourth and fifth I played really good tennis. I wasn’t finding that tennis in the previous sets, previous rounds.”
Fritz joined the casualties among the men’s pre-tournament favourites, with only four of the top 10 seeds now left in the draw – No.1 Alexander Zverev, No.2 Carlos Alcaraz, No.7 Daniil Medvedev and No.8 Ben Shelton – going into the second week.
“That shows you how even is the circuit right now, I mean, how tight every match it is, how difficult it is to win matches, because anything can happen right now,” said Cerundolo. “It’s open to everyone. Everyone can win.”
Fritz had cruised through his second-round match in little more than 90 minutes and looked well on his way to another smooth victory, saving 11 of the 13 break points he faced in the opening two sets.
After trading breaks early in the third set, the Argentine dug in his heels, and Fritz looked exasperated when he hit a wonky shot beyond the baseline on break point in the sixth game.
Cerundolo upped his level as Fritz struggled with uncharacteristic mistakes in the fourth set and the American smacked his racket against his thigh after sending another shot long on break point in the fifth game.
The Argentine made his opponent sprint back and forth along the baseline with a series of powerful precision shots in the ninth game of the final set, where Fritz’s shoelace snapped as he was serving at 15-40 down.
The brief interruption did nothing to break Cerundolo’s stride and Fritz whacked the ball into the net to gift his opponent the break on the next point. The Argentine sealed the win with a fine backhand strike.
