Fritz notches career win 250, reaches maiden Madrid semi-final

American Taylor Fritz, the No 12 seed, beat Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo, the No 21 seed, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals of the Madrid Masters at the Caja Magica on Wednesday evening.

The American avenged a four-set loss to the Argentinian at Roland-Garros in the third round last year, hitting 18 winners, winning 83 percent of his first-serve points and converting three of six break points.

“It was really tough from the ground to be honest,” Fritz said. “I just had to try to hang in the match with my serve and fight through some points even though I didn’t feel super comfortable playing the points, and take my chances when I got them.”

Fritz, ranked No 13, will face Russian Andrey Rublev, the No 7 seed, next.

Fritz owns a 5-3 record against Rublev, and won four of the pair’s last five tilts, but the Russian took their only clay meeting in the Monte-Carlo semi-finals last year.

The American won against Italian Luciano Darderi (7-6 (1), 6-4), Argentinian Sebastian Baez, the No 18 seed (6-2, 6-3) and Pole Hubert Hurkacz, the No 8 seed (7-6 (2), 6-4) in the previous rounds of the Madrid tournament.

Earlier in the tournament, Cerundolo, ranked No 22, won against Hungarian Fabian Marozsan (6-2, 7-6 (5)), American Tommy Paul, the No 15 seed (6-7 (7), 6-4, 6-2) and German Alexander Zverev, the No 4 seed (6-3, 6-4).

Madrid Masters 1000, other last eight results (Caja Magica, clay, EUR 7.877.020, most recent results first):

• Daniil Medvedev vs. Jiri Lehecka
• Jannik Sinner vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime
• Andrey Rublev beat Carlos Alcaraz (2): 4-6, 6-3, 6-2

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