Dallas, Feb 14 Taylor Fritz survived an injury scare to beat Sebastian Korda 6-7(2), 6-4, 7-6(5) for a place in the Dallas Open semifinals.
At 4-5, 30/15 first set, Fritz hit an awkward backhand flick that led to a sharp pain and a physio visit in the same game. He had the injury worked on and was still feeling the pain, but not as intensely. He received multiple visits from the physio, which he explained helped, ATP reports.
"That was a weird one. He hit a really hard return and so I had to kind of hit a flick backhand and the way that I (hit it), just jammed my elbow I think. It was a hard-hit ball, so I just think the way I hit it behind me and extended my elbow, I instantly just felt this really sharp pain in my elbow," Fritz said in his on-court interview.
"I went over to the towel box, I was feeling it and I was like, ‘I’ll try to hit a serve’. Luckily I made it and it wasn’t a bad serve, because the ball came back and I couldn’t hit the next ball. It was such a sharp pain."
Fritz had to deal with Korda, who served at 5/4 in the final-set tie-break. But the former No. 15 player in the PIF ATP Rankings made back-to-back forehand errors, allowing Fritz to escape. The top seed hit 22 aces and saved all four break points he faced, according to ATP Stats.
Fritz will next face former World No. 3 Marin Cilic, who stormed past breakthrough Briton Jack Pinnington Jones 6-1, 6-4 in just 78 minutes.
The Croatian, a 21-time tour-level champion, is pursuing his first ATP Tour title since Hangzhou in 2024. Fritz leads their ATP head-to-head series 2-1, but they have not played since 2022.
--IANS
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