Shanghai Masters: Taylor Fritz and Daniil Medvedev join Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner with victories
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Published 07/10/2023 at 18:29 GMT
Yosuke Watanuki put on an attacking display in an attempt to derail Taylor Fritz, who survived 53 winners from the world No. 79 to advance to the third round of the Shanghai Masters by the “smallest of margins”. Daniil Medvedev also progressed before the Shanghai rain arrived to disrupt Cameron Norrie’s match against J.J. Wolf and Frances Tiafoe’s encounter with Lorenzo Sonego.
Butterfly stopped play? Medvedev dusts off insect - and Garin - to progress
Taylor Fritz and Daniil Medvedev joined Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner in the third round of the Shanghai Masters with wins on Saturday.
American Fritz beat 79th-ranked Japanese player Watanuki 7-6(2) 6-7(6) 6-4, while second seed Medvedev secured a 6-3 6-3 victory against Cristian Garin in 92 minutes.
Watanuki set out with bold, attacking play and gave his best performance against a top-10 opponent, but Fritz’s composed display saw him through despite facing 53 winners.
"It came down to the smallest margins," said Fritz, who will face either 27th seed Jiri Lehecka or Diego Schwartzman in the next round.
"To be honest, it just came down to me upping it just a bit in the end and then him making mistakes when prior he wasn't really doing much wrong.
"It was tough for me to play my game because no matter what shot I hit, he just blasted a winner or missed off of it. So I was just fighting to stay in it."
It was a more straightforward task for Medvedev, who got the job done against 98th-ranked Garin in straight sets earlier in the day.
Medvedev notched his 60th tour-level win to become the second player to reach the number this season after Alcaraz.
Asked if he was confident about passing his record of 63 wins in a season, Medvedev replied: “I hope so, you never know.
“At this moment and with the form I’m in, I would confidently say I will do it, but never say things too early in tennis.
“I’m going to try my best, I’m going to try to play more good matches in the tournament that I have left this season. It’s a good result so far, so I want to try to do better.”
Cameron Norrie will have to await his fate after his match against J.J. Wolf was suspended due to the rain in Shanghai.
Norrie was leading the American 3-6 7-5 3-2 at the time of the suspension and will resume the tie in Sunday’s first round of matches.
Frances Tiafoe’s match against Lorenzo Sonego was also a victim of the weather with Tiafoe, seeded tenth, trailing the third set.
Ugo Humbert’s clash with Botic van de Zandschulp has also been postponed until Sunday.
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