Fritz survives Nishioka in three, advances to second round at Vienna

American Taylor Fritz, the No 4 seed, moved into the second round of the Vienna Open by defeating Japanese qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka 6-7 (4), 7-6 (7), 6-3 at the Wiener Stadthalle on Monday.

Fritz, ranked No 10, will play the winner of the match between Austrian wildcard Jurij Rodionov and Canadian Denis Shapovalov next.

The American was playing his first match as a top-10 player, and won in three sets for the 19th time in 2022. He improves to 42-17 on the season and moves closer to the eighth and final qualification spot for this year’s ATP Finals in Turin.

He is currently 315 points behind Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Fritz rallied from a break down in the third set to increase his winning streak in deciding sets to six. He has won 19 of 30 deciders in 2022, including 2-2 in five-setters.

The American rallied from 3-1 down in the third, claiming the final five games of the match to earn his first win in four tries against Nishioka. He saved a match point while serving at 4-5, 30-40.

Vienna ATP 500, other first-round results and matches (Wiener Stadthalle, EUR 2.489.935, most recent results first):

• Dennis Novak vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas
• Tallon Griekspoor vs. Marcos Giron
• Cristian Garin vs. Jannik Sinner
• Daniil Medvedev vs. Nikoloz Basilashvili
• Hubert Hurkacz vs. Frances Tiafoe
• Pedro Cachin vs. Cameron Norrie
• Dominic Thiem vs. Tommy Paul
• Jurij Rodionov vs. Denis Shapovalov
• Lorenzo Sonego vs. Emil Ruusuvuori
• Grigor Dimitrov vs. Thiago Monteiro
• Oscar Otte vs. Daniel Evans
• Filip Misolic vs. Francisco Cerundolo: monday
• Andrey Rublev vs. Diego Schwartzman
• Borna Coric beat Quentin Halys (Q): 3-6, 7-5, 6-3
• Karen Khachanov beat J.J. Wolf (Q): 7-6 (4), 7-5