Brandon Nakashima topples Taylor Fritz 7-6(9) 4-6 6-3 in the quarter in Cincinnati on Friday in what was an all-American match. Nakashima will clash against Frances Tiafoe in the semifinal. The battle lasted 2 hours and 13 minutes. This will be his most significant achievement in this competition. Previously, the best he could do was reaching the 3rd round in 2024 and 2025. Here you can see his history at this event.
Nakashima added to his prize money $ 146,545 after winning this match. He has already won $ 340,190 up to now in this competition. If he wins the next match, Brandon will add $ 272,150 to his earnings to get in total $ 612,340.
Highlights Brandon Nakashima vs. Taylor Fritz Cincinnati Open – Cincinnati
Stats: aces, double faults, breaks, winners
2h:13
Nakashima won this contest even if he scored the same amount of points of Fritz (97 vs. 97).
Nakashima
Nakashima served extremely well to win 85% of the points (51/60) behind his first serve. Nevertheless he won only 43% points (19/44) on his second serve. Nakashima blasted 13 aces and he committed 4 double faults. Nakashima didn’t lose the concentration in converting 67% of the break points that he procured (2/3).
Fritz
On the other side, Taylor was struggling when converting his break points (only 33% – 2/6). That was one of the key issues for his demise.
After this match, the head to head between Nakashima and Fritz is 2-4 for Taylor.
Draw and next match H2H: Brandon Nakashima vs. Frances Tiafoe – stats
Nakashima will play Tiafoe in the semifinal.
This will be the 9th time that Brandon Nakashima and Frances Tiafoe play each other. The head to head is 7-1 for Tiafoe (see full H2H stats), 5-1 on hard.
The last time that they competed against each other, Tiafoe won 3-6 7-66 6-4 in the semifinal in Acapulco back in February 2026.
Live score progression and stats
Neither player conceded a service game during this set. Therefore the affair had to be decided at the tiebreak. Finally, Brandon won a thrilling breaker 11-9 after a huge fight with 20 points played.
Tiebreak
Nakashima won 5 minibreaks in the 5th (3-2), 8th (4-4), 9th (5-4), 17th (9-8) and 20th (11-9) point. On the other side, Fritz won 4 minibreaks in the 6th (3-3), 7th (4-3), 11th (5-6) and 18th (9-9) point.
This was the tiebreak sequence: 0-1, 1-1, 2-1, 2-2, 3-2, 3-3, 3-4, 4-4, 5-4, 6-4, 6-5, 6-6, 6-7, 7-7, 8-7, 8-8, 9-8, 9-9, 10-9, 11-9
Neither player conceded a single break point during this set. Nakashima saved 1 set point when he was trailing 6-7. On the other side, Taylor wasn’t able to convert 1 break point in the 2nd game (1-1 30-40).
They played 80 points. It’s worth to point out that, Brandon won this set even if he scored less points 4 than Fritz (38-42). Nakashima dropped 13 points on serve (32-13). on the other side of the net, Taylor conceded 6 points on serve (29-6).
The set was pretty even as both players managed to hold serve with the notable exception of 1 break that Taylor grabbed in the 3rd game (2-1) prior to ultimately winning the set (6-4).
Fritz was flawless in converting all his break points in the 3rd (1-1 40-A) and the 5th game (3-1 15-40 and 30-40). On the other side, Taylor didn’t concede a single break point during this set.
They played 59 points. Fritz conquered the set after winning 7 more points than Nakashima (33-26). Taylor lost 5 points on serve (21-5). On the losing side, Nakashima conceded 12 points on serve (21-12).
Nakashima conquered the set after recovering from 1 break down. In fact, after dropping his serve in the 5th (2-3) game, Brandon broke back in the 6th (3-3) and in the 8th (5-3) game to conquer the set 6-3.
Fritz was unable to find the solution against the opposition in the last 4 games of the set when the game count went from 2-3 to 6-3.
Nakashima converted 66% of his break points (2/3). He had 3 break points opportunities in the 6th (2-3 30-40 and 40-A) and the 8th game (4-3 15-40). Furthermore, on the other side, Fritz converted 50% of his break points (1/2). He had his opportunities in the 4th game (2-2 15-40 and 30-40).
They contested 54 points. Nakashima won 10 points more than Taylor (32-22). Nakashima surrendered 9 points on serve (18-9). on the other side of the court, Fritz conceded 14 points on serve (13-14).
Tennis Scores in Cincinnati
- Brandon NakashimaNakashima – Taylor FritzFritz (7-69 4-6 6-3)
- Frances TiafoeTiafoe – Lorenzo MusettiMusetti (7-62 7-5)
- Arthur FilsFils – Thiago Agustin TiranteAgustin Tirante (6-3 6-2)
- Flavio CobolliCobolli – Tommy PaulPaul (2-6 6-3 6-4)
Upcoming matches
- Brandon NakashimaNakashima – Frances TiafoeTiafoe (1-6) – H2H details and stats
- Flavio CobolliCobolli – (0-2) – H2H details and stats
