American star Taylor Fritz has survived a gruelling United Cup clash that lasted more than three hours, battling through injury to defeat Spain’s Jaume Munar.
The world No.9 found himself in deep waters on many occasions as he looked to keep the USA’s hopes alive after Coco Gauff lost earlier on Monday.
Fritz won the first set in a tiebreak before dropping the second and things looked like they were going the wrong way in the third and final set.
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The 28-year-old appeared to land awkwardly and walked straight over to his team’s bench, signalling towards his shoe and taking it off to reveal a bloodied foot.
Taylor Fritz leaves the court with a foot injury. Nine
However, after the medical timeout, Fritz rallied and took the third-set tiebreak to claim a 7-6(4), 3-6, 7-6(6) win and send the USA-Spain battle to a mixed doubles decider.
“Look what it means to Taylor Fritz,” commentator Brenton Speed said on Nine.
“Three hours and 13 minutes of really hard work to keep the United States alive.”
The Aussie tennis summer kicks off with the 2026 United Cup from Friday, January 2. Watch it live and free on Nine and 9Now.
Nine host Nick McArdle heaped praise on the 2024 US Open finalist.
“That is pure guts … he survived to keep this one alive,” McArdle said post-match.
Fritz didn’t feature in the mixed doubles clash, with Christian Harrison teaming up with Gauff against the tandem of Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers and Inigo Cervantes.
USA cruised to a 7-6(5), 6-0 straight-sets win as Gauff made up for her earlier defeat as the reigning United Cup champions proved too strong for their Spanish rivals.