On Friday, Taylor Fritz advanced to the Shanghai Masters semifinals by easily defeating David Goffin of Belgium, 6-3, 6-4.
In the opening set, the American showed rapid dominance, breaking Goffin, who is ranked 66th, in the second and sixth games.
Goffin, the underdog who defeated Alexander Zverev in the previous round, appeared more dominant in the second set but was ultimately unable to repeat the victory with a top-10 victory.
Fritz, a finalist at the US Open, has never advanced past the Shanghai third round before. Next up for him is a match against either Czech teenager Jakub Mensik or Novak Djokovic, who will compete for the last semi-final spot later on Friday.
In a press conference, Fritz was asked about Rafael Nadal’s retirement. He expressed his surprise over it and said: “Many people were expecting his retirement to be announced. I was very surprised that it was during the Davis Cup; many were expecting it at Roland Garros, Madrid, or Barcelona. He has been trying to recover for a long time, and the fact that his retirement is happening during the Davis Cup just shows that he has been trying to play for a long time.”
He added: “I have been very lucky to have played against Rafa a couple of times, in his last full year playing with a relatively solid schedule. I grew up watching Rafa. He and Roger dominated the sport, and it has been an honour to play at the same time as someone I watched on TV when I was a little kid. So, it has been an honour to play with him; it’s the end of an era.”
Fritz in Shanghai, ranking, and results in 2024
LWWLWLLWWW At the moment ranked no.7, the American has achieved an overall 49-19 win-loss record in 2024. The American is now competing in Shanghai where he bested Unknown Player bye, the world no.161 Terence Atmane 7-6(4) 7-6(5), the world no.336 Yosuke Watanuki 6-3 6-4, the world no.14 Holger Rune 6-1 6-2 and the world no.66 David Goffin 6-3 6-4.
Taylor Fritz will compete against the world no.9 Casper Ruud in the Round Robin. The head to head is 2-1 for Ruud.
The American has won 2 titles in 2024 in Delray Beach and Eastbourne. Fritz reached the final in Munich (BMW Open) and at the U.S. Open.
Fritz won 9 titles in his career: 6 on hard courts and 3 on grass courts. (See the list of his titles)
He is also scheduled to play in Vienna (Erste Bank Open) on the 21st of October and Paris (Rolex Paris Masters) on the 28th of October.
Rafael Nadal in 2024
Currently ranked no.158, Rafael played his last match on the 29th of July when he lost to world no.4 Novak Djokovic 6-1 6-4 in the 2nd round in Paris (draw).
At present, during this year the Spaniard has a 12-7 match record. Rafael Nadal’s best accomplishment of the year was getting to the final in Bastad.
Taylor Fritz and Rafael Nadal clashed against each other 4 times. Their actual record is 2-2. The last time they locked horns, Taylor Fritz won 7-6(3) 6-1 in the round robin in Turin (Nitto ATP Finals) in November 2022.
Here the video highlights.
