De Minaur reaches first Masters-level quarter-final in Toronto, sending Fritz home

Australian Alex de Minaur reached the last eight of the Toronto Masters by winning against American Taylor Fritz, the No 8 seed, 7-6 (7), 4-6, 6-1 at the Aviva Centre on Thursday evening.

The win marks the first time in 36 attempts that De Minaur has made the quarter-finals of a Masters 1000 event.

“Feels great to finally break that barrier. Feels like I’d been close a couple times [in the past],” said the world No 18 after the match.

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After two tight sets were exchanged, it was De Minaur who had more gas in the tank, pulling away to win the third set 6-1. The Australian’s returning was particularly impressive, defusing Taylor “The Hotshot” Fritz‘s potent serve that has dug him out of many holes over the past month.

“I knew I had to take advantage of those second serves, had to go big,” explained De Minaur.

De Minaur, ranked No 18, will play Russian Daniil Medvedev, the second seed, next. The Australian beat No 11 seed Cameron Norrie (7-5, 6-4) and Canadian wildcard Gabriel Diallo (6-4, 7-5) ahead of his victory.

In the previous round of the Canadian Open, Fritz, ranked No 9, defeated Frenchman Ugo Humbert (7-6 (7), 3-6, 6-3).

Toronto Masters, other last 16 results (Aviva Centre, hard, USD 6.600.000, most recent results first):

• Andy Murray vs. Jannik Sinner
• Tommy Paul vs. Marcos Giron
• Carlos Alcaraz vs. Hubert Hurkacz
• Gael Monfils vs. Aleksandar Vukic
• Daniil Medvedev beat Lorenzo Musetti (16): 6-4, 6-4
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat Casper Ruud (3): 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-6 (4)
• Mackenzie McDonald beat Milos Raonic (WC): 6-3, 6-3