US Open: Impressive Fritz dispatches Berrettini in straight sets

American Taylor Fritz, the No 12 seed, defeated Italian Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 7-6 (1), 6-1 to reach the third round of the US Open in New York on Wednesday night.

It was billed as one of the ‘early popcorn’ matches of the US Open, but home hope Fritz well and truly outshone Berrettini in this clash between two former top 10 players.

Berrettini came into the match having had a career-best year on many fronts, one of which his hold percentage. Imagine the Italian’s surprise when he made less than half of his first serves on Louis Armstrong and was broken three times by Fritz.

He also had excelled in tiebreaks across 2024, winning his last seven in a row. That came to an abrupt end on Wednesday night when Fritz claimed the second set breaker 7-1.

Overall, Fritz was simply far too solid on his own serve. He did not face a break point across the entire match, winning 36 of 40 points behind his first serve. Fritz also returned better than usual, defusing Berrettini’s big, flat serve by making return after return, winning 42 percent of receiving points overall.

Fritz, ranked No 12, will play Argentinian Francisco Comesana next.

The American won against Argentinian Camilo Ugo Carabelli (7-5, 6-1, 6-2) ahead of his victory.

In the previous round of the US Open, Berrettini, ranked No 44, beat Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas (7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-3).

New York (Grand Slam), other second-round results (USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, hard, USD 75.000.000, most recent results first):

• Carlos Alcaraz vs. Botic van de Zandschulp
• Fabian Marozsan vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Max Purcell vs. Tommy Paul
• Mariano Navone vs. Daniel Evans
• David Goffin vs. Adrian Mannarino
• Tristan Schoolkate vs. Jakub Mensik
• Arthur Fils vs. Gabriel Diallo
• Alex De Minaur vs. Otto Virtanen
• Facundo Diaz Acosta vs. Jack Draper
• Flavio Cobolli vs. Zizou Bergs
• Thanasi Kokkinakis vs. Nuno Borges
• Jannik Sinner vs. Alex Michelsen
• Jordan Thompson vs. Hubert Hurkacz
• Matteo Arnaldi vs. Roman Safiullin
• Tomas Machac vs. Sebastian Korda
• Mattia Bellucci vs. Christopher O’Connell
• Laslo Djere vs. Novak Djokovic: thursday
• Casper Ruud vs. Gael Monfils: wednesday
• Lorenzo Musetti (18) beat Miomir Kecmanovic: 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 7-5
• Ben Shelton (13) beat Roberto Bautista Agut: 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
• Alexei Popyrin (28) beat Pedro Martinez Portero: 6-2, 6-4, 6-0
• Juncheng Shang beat Roberto Carballes Baena: 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (2)
• Francisco Comesana beat Ugo Humbert (17): 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
• Andrey Rublev (6) beat Arthur Rinderknech: 4-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2
• Frances Tiafoe (20) beat Alexander Shevchenko: 6-4, 6-1, 1-0 ret.
• Alexander Zverev (4) beat Alexandre Muller (WC): 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-1
• Brandon Nakashima beat Arthur Cazaux: 6-4, 6-4, 6-2
• Tallon Griekspoor beat Sebastian Baez (21): 6-1, 2-0 ret.
• Grigor Dimitrov (9) beat Rinky Hijikata: 6-1, 6-1, 7-6 (4)
• Jiri Lehecka (32) beat Mitchell Krueger (Q): 6-7 (5), 0-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry beat Francisco Cerundolo (29): 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3