Third seed Taylor Fritz battled past Matteo Berrettini 7-5 6-7 (7-9) 7-5 after 2 hours and 44 minutes to reach his first semifinal at the Miami Open.
Berrettini saved six match points in the second set to force a decider. More than 70 minutes later Fritz converted his seventh match point.
Berrettini earned an early break in the first game of the opening set, but Fritz broke straight back in the second game. Berrettini was not able to convert two break points in the fifth game, but he saved a break point in the next game. Fritz earned his second break in the 12th game to win the first set 7-5.
Both players held on serve in the second set until the 11th game when Fritz earned a crucial break to win the first set 7-5.
The 2024 US Open finalist held two consecutive match points on Berrettini’s serve at 6-5 in the second set. He squandered one of these match points by missing a backhand down the line return.
Fritz came close to a straight-set win, when he earned three consecutive match points at 6-3 in the second set tie-break. However, Berrettini saved them all with some big forehands combined with a few missed opportunities from Fritz. The Italian player won the final three points to win the tie-break 9-7.
Neither player surrendered serve until Fritz earned the decisive break at 5-5 in the third set. Berrettini fired two first serves, when he was facing two break points at 15-40 15-40. Fritz converted his fourth break point on Berrettini’s second serve and won his third consecutive game from 4-5 down on his seventh match point to improve to 5-0 in his head-to-head matches against Berrettini.
Fritz won 62% of his second serve return points.
“It was tough. I kept trying to tell myself that he played well and it’s not as much on me, so try not to get frustrated. I think my best looks there I had three match points seeing a second serve from him. I think I really have to win one of those. I can’t be too frustrated with the 6/5 point, I honestly hit a really, really good serve and he full-commit leaned there. If I would’ve gone 110 mph wide, I probably would’ve aced him. He committed hard for the return and he crushed it. I got to give it to him, he raised his level a lot”, said Fritz.
