WASHINGTON (AP) – Top-seeded Taylor Fritz went 2 for 2 at the DC Open on Friday to reach the semi-finals, first beating Andy Murray in a three-setter briefly interrupted by climate protesters and then heading out onto a different court three hours later to eliminate Jordan Thompson at night.
The second-seeded man, Frances Tiafoe, a crowd favourite who grew up nearby in Maryland, couldn’t match Fritz’s feat, winning one match Friday but losing his second, bowing out in the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 7-5 loss to Number 9 seed Dan Evans.
Fritz Vs Murray was one of several matches cancelled on Thursday because of rain, jumbling the schedule at the hard-court tune-up for the US Open and forcing some players to compete twice on Friday.
Fritz, a 25-year-old from California who is the highest-ranked American man at Number 9, saved all seven break points he faced in the third set and hit 17 aces with tennis balls he deemed “awful” en route to a 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-4 victory against Murray, a 36-year-old from Britain who earned three Grand Slam titles before he had two hip operations.
That one, which Fritz said was played at an “insanely high level,” lasted more than three hours in the main stadium with the temperature around 30 degrees Celsius and 60 per cent humidity.
Then Fritz raised his season victory total to 41 — only Number 1 Carlos Alcaraz and Number 3 Daniil Medvedev have more — by beating Thompson 6-3, 6-3 in a much quicker contest at John Harris Court: 1 hour, 17 minutes.
“My body probably couldn’t have handled another battle like I had with Andy,” said Fritz, who won the title at Atlanta last week and will face Number 12 seed Tallon Griekspoor on Saturday for a berth in Washington’s final.
“I can’t say I’ve experienced this — playing three hours with the heaviest balls in the world in humid conditions and having to turn around and play again,” Fritz said.
He said he couldn’t recall playing back-to-back matches like that since he was a kid.
Murray couldn’t remember the last time he played two matches in a day.
“It’s pretty rare that it happens,” he said. “There is not necessarily, like, a strategy for that. Because it’s so rare, you just try and focus on the first match. And then if you get through it, try and rest and recover as much as you can before going out there. But it’s far from ideal.”
Before facing Fritz, Thompson completed a 6-2, 6-2 win over Number 11 Chris Eubanks in a match suspended late in the first set Thursday.
Griekspoor finished beating Gael Monfils in a match suspended Thursday in the third set, then went out and defeated JJ Wolf 7-5, 6-4.
Tiafoe beat qualifier Shang Juncheng 6-2, 6-3, then had 2 1/2 hours off before facing Evans in the main stadium. Evans, who also beat Alexander Shevchenko on Friday, now takes on Number 5 seed Grigor Dimitrov.
Dimitrov had a much simpler workday: He moved into the semi-finals when Number 13 Ugo Humbert withdrew before their match with an injured left leg.
Fritz found the whole thing “annoying”, when climate protesters briefly interrupted his match against Andy Murray.
In the stands, some people chanted and displayed signs protesting the use of fossil fuels. About a dozen people were asked to leave the tournament and did so without incident, a spokesperson for the tournament said.
“I get they’re protesting, but there’s just got to be a better way to do it,” said Fritz.
“I don’t understand how people are going to get behind a cause when you’re ruining everyone else’s good time. Like, it doesn’t really make sense to me….It’s annoying, obviously, when they do it. It’s ruining everyone’s time. Everyone wants to watch the tennis. So I jokingly said, ‘Honestly, this makes me want to go fly on jets more,’” Fritz said with a smile. “I think, you know, they’re supporting a good cause, but the way they’re doing it, who’s going to want to listen when they’re just annoying everybody?”
At Wimbledon last month, three environmental activists were arrested after jumping out of the stands to disrupt matches by scattering orange confetti and puzzle pieces on the court.
