Taylor Fritz loses to qualifier Marton Fucsovics at Boss Open
By Lee Vowell
What a week Marton Fucsovics is having at the Boss Open in Stuttgart, Germany. Fucsovics had never been to a semifinal at a grass-court tournament since turning pro a long time ago, but now he will move on to play Frances Tiafoe on Saturday. Taylor Fritz, however, seems to find a way to disappoint for the most part deep into tournaments. In Friday’s quarterfinal, Fucsovics defeated Fritz 6-4 7-5.
Fritz is the highest-ranked American on the ATP tour currently. If Tiafoe wins the Stuttgart Open, he will move into the top 10 rankings and could pass Fritz, but Fritz has a longer history of being successful. But Frances Tiafoe might be passing Taylor Fritz now (both players are 25 years old with a lot of tennis left to be played, it would seem) just as Fucsovics passed Fritz on Friday.
It only took two service games for Fucsovics to beat Taylor Fritz. Fritz lost his service game to open the match and Fucsovics won every service game he had in the match. Lesson to all you young kids reading: Hold your serve and you will be victorious in most of your matches.
Taylor Fritz out at the Boss Open
Fucsovics is 31 years old and has just one tour title to his name. He won the Geneva Open in 2018. He has a career record of 136-136. But none of that has mattered this week as Fucsovics has gotten hot with his serve.
Tiafoe is the highest-ranked player left in Stuttgart and is the number 3 seed at the tournament. Fucsovics, of course, had to qualify to even get into the tournament. But Saturday’s semi should be a fun match to watch with Tiafoe’s athleticism going up against Fucsovics’ well-placed serve.
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It isn’t that Fucsovics could beat Tiafoe on power – Fucsovics only had 4 aces against Fritz – but Fucsovics’ placement of his serve allows him to prepare for any returns. Fucsovics won a crazy 84 percent of his first serves versus Taylor Fritz even though only 58 percent landed in. To win, Tiafoe likely needs to make it a short match and win points quickly, otherwise, Fucsovics is going to build off the momentum of his week and pull off another upset.