Citi Open: Top seed Taylor Fritz, Monfils advance to third round

WASHINGTON:  Top seed Taylor Fritz of the US defeated practice partner Zachary Svajda 6-3, 6-3 in the second round of the Citi Open to claim his 17th win from 20 matches on American soil this season. The American, who has received a first-round Bye, will face former World No.1 Andy Murray in the third round.

Fritz, stitched up the first set against 20-year-old Svajda with love breaks in the third and eighth games. The 25-year-old dug himself out of a 0/40 hold in the fifth game of the second set and claimed the decisive break three games later on Wednesday night.

“Zach and I have trained together consistently for the past couple of years; I try to give him advice. He’s not someone you want to see on the other side of the court. I know what level he is capable of,” Fritz was quoted by the ATP Tour website. Speaking about his third-round opponent, the American said: “It’s going to be a tough match against Andy, who is such an amazing competitor. The conditions are really, really slow so that will help him in the match a little bit,” he said.

Trying to work his way into contention to qualify for the season-ending ATP Finals, Fritz has the opportunity to move inside the cut in eighth position in the ATP Live Race To Turin with a title this week.

In other action, French wild card Gael Monfils used his dazzling court speed to thwart the variety in Kazakh player Alexander Bublik’s bag of tricks to claim a 6-3, 6-4 win. IANS

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