{"id":48854,"date":"2025-08-06T06:25:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T06:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/48854\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T06:25:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T06:25:14","slug":"fritz-fires-past-rublev-into-fifth-semifinal-of-season-in-toronto-tennis-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/48854\/","title":{"rendered":"Fritz Fires Past Rublev Into Fifth Semifinal of Season in Toronto \u2013 Tennis Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, August 5, 2025
Photo credit: National Bank Open by Rogers Facebook<\/p>\n

Demonstrative displays aren\u2019t typically part of Taylor Fritz\u2019s arsenal.<\/p>\n

Tonight, Fritz fired the exclamation point to punctuate a declarative victory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On match point, Fritz slammed his 20th ace completing a 6-3, 7-6(4) win over Andrey Rublev to power into his fifth semifinal of the season at the National Bank Open in Toronto.<\/p>\n

\"TennisTennis Express One Day Sale<\/p>\n

The second-seeded Fritz posted his 20th hard-court win of the season\u2014he\u2019s the third man to do it\u2014advancing to his 38th career semifinal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say tonight I felt the best about my game, just striking the ball-wise,\u201d Fritz said. \u201cI feel like all week it\u2019s kind of been flying, tough to control, easy to miss the ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just me, just watching any of the other matches, I can seeing people are hitting the ball a lot softer than they normally do, they\u2019re playing a lot safer, people are making more mistakes. I think conditions here, it\u2019s just tough in general to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight for sure it was the most I felt like I could control the ball, and also kind of go after it and feel like I was confident in where it was going. That\u2019s obviously a good thing going into the semis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wimbledon semifinalist Fritz will face fourth-seeded compatriot Ben Shelton for a spot in the final. Shelton slammed 11 aces defeating ninth-seeded Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-4 in tonight\u2019s second quarterfinal. Fritz, who is 1-0 against Shelton, is bidding for his first hard-court final since he beat de Minaur and Alexander Zverev in succession to reach the ATP Finals title match in Turin last November.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like when we played the first time his serve was still huge,\u201d Fritz said of Shelton. \u201cI mean, maybe the spots are better. His serve was really good when I played him, whenever it was, like two, three
years ago, I\u2019m not sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Final four bound \ud83d\udd1c<\/p>\n

Taylor Fritz keeps up his impressive form as he defeats Andrey Rublev 6-4 7-6 \ud83e\udd1d#NBO25<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/attFhHJy6B<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 6, 2025<\/a> <\/p>\n

Bursting out of the blocks quickly, Fritz flew eight points in a row surging to a 3-0 lead against the 2024 Canadian Open finalist.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old Fritz was cracking the ball with depth off both wings, punished the Rublev two-handed backhand and even carved some timely drop shots seizing a one-set lead. Fritz served 70 percent and won 17 of 23 first-serve points in the opening set.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s one of the best players. He get great results,\u201d Rublev said of Fritz. \u201cWimbledon semifinal, great match against Alcaraz. Now the tournament after Wimbledon he\u2019s in semifinal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know he have a great level, but here it\u2019s tough to serve against. Here there is no tennis at all. But, in general, he had unbelievable level. He have tough matches against top players, and he\u2019s beating most of the players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Locked in \ud83d\udd12<\/p>\n

Taylor Fritz means business today as he takes the opener 6-3 \ud83d\udcaa#NBO25<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/Yn0ucKz9rQ<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 5, 2025<\/a> <\/p>\n

On the fast Toronto court, Fritz was nearly flawless on serve at the start of the second set. The 6\u20195\u201d American tore through 16 of his first 17 service points, stamping three love holds in a row, at the start of the second set. Fritz broke for 5-4.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The second seed\u2019s only real stumble came when he served for the semifinal at 5-4. Despite successive aces that helped him earn match point, Fritz missed his normally reliable backhand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rublev saved a match point then exploited a double fault and netted backhand breaking to level the second set at 5-all.<\/p>\n

A frustrated Fritz dropped his Head racquet to the court and screamed at his box in his only show of angst of the evening.<\/p>\n

The Rublev forehand remains one of the biggest in the game, but the Russian\u2019s biggest weapon betrayed him early in the tiebreaker. Rublev missed two forehands in the first three points as Fritz took a 3-0 lead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Launching a 137 mph missile down the middle, Fritz went up 5-2. Though Rublev ripped a diagonal forehand to close to 4-5 he missed a mind-numbing forehand into net to hand the American a second match point.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This time, Fritz made no mistake cracking his 20th ace of the night to seal his 20th hard-court win of the year.<\/p>\n