“It feels incredible”, Fritz said.
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He is already up to No. 145 in the world rankings and is expected to soar to 113th even if he loses in the Memphis semifinals to Ricardas Berankis.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – Teenager Taylor Fritz beat Benjamin Becker of Germany 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (5) on Friday at the Memphis Open, becoming the youngest American to reach an ATP semifinal since 1989.
He will climb to No102 after Friday’s victory and to around No82 if he wins Saturday’s final against either Kei Nishikori or Sam Querrey.
Jimmy Connors and Andy Roddick had been the Americans needing the fewest ATP events to reach a final, each doing so in his 10th career tournament. Berankis won 6-3, 6-4, and Becker survived a tiebreaker in a 6-2, 7-6 (6) victory.
Just playing in the semi-final was a record achievement for the 18-year-old, who became the youngest American to make an ATP semi since Michael Chang won at Wembley in 1989 at the age of 17. “It’s insane what winning four tennis matches can achieve”. He lost to compatriot Jack Sock in five sets in the first round of last month’s Australian Open. The European broke back for 4-4 with a service return victor only to double fault on break point again in the ninth game.
“That’s something that doesn’t happen very often”, Fritz said. He didn’t do anything wrong, but I played just about as well as I could play on the big points.
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Johnson looked to be cruising in the first set as he took a 4-2 lead after breaking Fritz right off the bat. Thiem is two wins away from another winner’s trophy after taking out Pablo Carreno Busta, Gastao Elias (saved one match point), and Dusan Lajovic.
