Taylor Fritz poked fun at himself and his compatriot Frances Tiafoe after they led their mixed-doubles partners down in their respective opening matches at the US Open. Fritz was paired with Elena Rybakina, while Tiafoe partnered with Madison Keys.
The 145th edition of the tournament began with the Round-of-16 encounter between Fritz/Rybakina and the defending champions from Italy, Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, on Tuesday, August 19. Errani and Vavassori beat the second seeds 4-2, 4-2 at New York’s Louis Armstrong Stadium. The Italian pair also defeated Andrey Rublev and Karolína Muchová to reach the semifinals.
Meanwhile, the American pair of Tiafoe and Keys lost 4-1, 4-2 to Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud in the Round of 16 at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. The third seeds also played their quarterfinal on the same day and beat Lorenzo Musetti and Caty McNally in straight sets. Swiatek played these two matches on Tuesday after winning her first Cincinnati Open singles title on Monday evening.
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Taylor Fritz posted a selfie with Frances Tiafoe on his Instagram story after their opening-round losses and wrote a hilarious self-deprecating caption.
"The mixed double specialists @bigfoe1998," he wrote.
To attract more eyeballs to the mixed doubles competition this year, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) made a few major changes. The number of teams was reduced from 32 to 16, and invitations were sent to top singles stars, such as Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Iga Swiatek, and Alexander Zverev, among others.
This meant that the more prominent mixed doubles pairs missed out. Defending champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori entered the draw, courtesy of a wild card.
"We are playing for all the doubles players that could not compete here. We try to do our best,” Errani said in a post-match interview (via The Tennis Gazette).
Additionally, the first three rounds feature four-game sets, and the final will be played in the regular six-game set format.
Taylor Fritz picks his favorite US Open match
Taylor Fritz reached his maiden Grand Slam final at the 2024 US Open. Jannik Sinner defeated him 6-3, 6-4, 7-5, prolonging the wait for an American male player to win a Major singles title since Andy Roddick at the 2003 US Open.
While Fritz beat Casper Ruud, Alexander Zverev, and Frances Tiafoe on his way to the summit clash, his second-round win against Matteo Berrettini means more to the California native. He downed the Italian 6-3, 7-6(1), 6-1. During a recent conversation with ATPTour.com, the 27-year-old was asked to name his favorite match at Flushing Meadows. He replied,
"It’s tough to say because I don’t feel like I ever played a match at the Open where I played out of my mind. I think I played really well against [Matteo] Berrettini in the second round last year. That was one of the best matches I played."
Taylor Fritz holds a dominating 5-0 head-to-head record against Matteo Berrettini.
