Erste Bank Open: Taylor Fritz - The train to Turin hasn't left yet
Taylor Fritz had to fight hard in his opening match at the Erste Bank Open for a long time before winning three sets against Yoshihito Nishioka . After the game, the American answered questions from tennisnet.com - and also spoke about a possible qualification for the ATP Finals in Turin.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Oct 25, 2022, 07:25 am
by Nikolaus Fink from the Wiener Stadthalle
The second match of this year's Erste Bank Open in Vienna already offered everything a neutral spectator could hope for before the match started: spectacular rallies, plenty of emotions and lots of drama. No, the first round duel between Taylor Fritz and Yoshihito Nishioka really left nothing to be desired.
In the end, 58 winners faced only 46 unforced errors, Fritz won after two hours and 43 minutes with 6:7 (4), 7:6 (7) and 6:3. In the second set, the American fended off a match point from his opponent, in the third he caught up a 1:3 deficit - and thus scored his first win in the fourth match against Nishioka.
Fritz sprinkles roses on Nishioka
"It's so difficult to play against him," Fritz explained to tennisnet.com after the match. "Even though I was behind for so long, I felt that I was playing really well. I served very well. That was the only reason why it was so tight and why I got into the tie-break twice," analyzed the 24th player -year-olds.
"He was too good from the baseline. It was frustrating because I didn't know what to do differently with a lot of the points I lost," said Fritz. For this reason, he changed his tactics in the middle of the third set: "In the end I said to myself that I had to play very risky balls. I wanted to hit as hard as possible and aim for the lines. That was the only way this match to win. Luckily I got more points than mistakes with that."
Fritz still has the chance to collect valuable points for the Race to Turin. The American is currently in eighth place in this, since tenth-placed Novak Djokovic has already booked his ticket for the final of the year due to his Wimbledon triumph, but Fritz still has to make up some ground for qualification in Vienna or Paris-Bercy. The deficit to number seven, Felix Auger-Aliassime, before the Erste Bank Open was 340 points.
Fritz is deliberately relaxed
"Of course I want to do well here. In order to get to Turin, I have to achieve a strong result here or in Paris," Fritz was under no illusions given the difficult starting situation. But he doesn't feel any additional pressure in Vienna: "If I lose here in the first or second round, it doesn't really matter to me because I still have Paris."
"Getting through a few laps here and a few laps there will not be enough. I need a strong finish," Fritz continued. "I don't think about it too much though." In the second round of the Erste Bank Open, the tenth in the world rankings will face Denis Shapovalov or Jurij Rodionov.
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Here the individual tableau in Vienna
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