Early in the decider, the 20th seed got his first break of the match on his eighth chance, then took the lead and cruised to victory.
Follow Us
Taylor Fritz is back in the final four of the BNP Paribas Open in 2022, five months after a breakout run to the autumn edition. The American defeated Miomir Kecmanovic 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-1, demonstrating great patience and power to defeat the unseeded Serbian. Fritz was a deserving winner throughout the nearly two-hour match, save for a disastrous service game in set two that gave his opponent a late break against the run of play. Early in the decider, the 20th seed got his first break of the match on his eighth chance, then took the lead and cruised to victory.
Read More – Indian Wells 2022: Dominant Andrey Rublev brushes off Grigor Dimitrov in quarters
“I’m really happy with how it turned out,” Fritz said post-match. “He was playing tough from the baseline. I was maybe giving him a little bit too much. I felt like I couldn’t really string it together on his serve [in the first two sets]. I just regrouped, found a way in the third. Kind of put more points together in the third set, so that’s what did it for me.”
Since Andy Roddick in 2009-10, the Southern California native was the first American to reach back-to-back Indian Wells quarterfinals, and he now matches the former World No. 1 with back-to-back semis in the desert.
Read More – Indian Wells 2022: Rafael Nadal survives Nick Kyrgios test, advances to semis
At 5-5 in the first set, Fritz faced two break points, but escaped after saving the second with a brave down-the-line backhand to end a 29-ball rally. In the tie-break, he showed great shot tolerance by drawing errors from his opponent and building a 5/1 lead. On his way to levelling at 5/5, the Serb found his range as he measured two imposing winners. Fritz regained a mini-break by taking yet another long point and patiently working his way up to set point. The set was won with a big serve.
“I don’t know what I did in the second set on my serve,” he said. “Like I really don’t want to talk about it. I don’t ever want to think about it again. I was the better player in that set, is what I was telling myself. I had break points in almost every single game he served.”
