Taylor Fritz is through to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open after beating Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 in just over three hours of hard-fought action.
The first set was decided after a tiebreak, in which the 12th in the scheme was more solid and won. Greece's No. 1 racket responded to the challenge, winning the second set after a single break. In the third set, however, Tsitsipas got off to a shaky start, conceding a break. He broke back, but another break took Fritz to a 2-1 lead. In the fourth the American pressed and won four consecutive games from 2-3 in favor of his opponent to triumph with the final victory.
Fritz played a very strong match, finishing with 13 aces and two double faults. He won 86% of first serve points, finishing with 50 winners and 19 unforced errors. Fritz's next challenger is world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who dropped just three games to French veteran Adrian Mannarino earlier today. Fritz will be looking to avenge his defeat to The Joker in Melbourne three years ago when he lost in five sets.
World number four Jannik Sinner also progressed to the last eight of the tournament after not dropping a set to Karen Khachanov. The Italian awaits the winner of the match between Alex de Minaur and Andrey Rublev in the next phase. /BGNES
