Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz produced rock-solid performances Wednesday in the US Open second round, giving up less than 10 games each to advance.
The 10th seed Tiafoe was watertight from the baseline to oust Austrian Sebastian Ofner 6-3, 6-1, 6-4, committing just 14 unforced errors throughout the one-hour, 31-minute contest. A semi-finalist last year at Flushing Meadows, Tiafoe showed precision on serve, dropping just five points behind his first delivery and saving the lone break point he faced all match.
“I thought I played really solid tonight. I thought I hit the ball really well from both sides,” Tiafoe said in his on-court interview. “I could have served a bit better tonight, but other than that, I didn’t have so many unforced errors. I put a lot of pressure on him. I hit my forehand great tonight and moved really well tonight. A win is a win and we are on to the next one.”
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The American thrilled the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd with easy firepower from his forehand and struck several passing shots by Ofner, who was making his US Open main-draw debut. Tiafoe broke Ofner’s serve five times and finished the second-round encounter with 21 winners.
“I feel so comfortable on this court. I thought I did a great job breaking early in every set and not really giving him much belief,” Tiafoe said. “That helps a lot when you haven’t played somebody.
“I hope as I keep going, [the crowd] will start getting really into it and get behind me. I’m going to give everything I got. I’m really excited about this year.”
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A three-time tour-level titlist, Tiafoe is competing this fortnight at a career-high World No. 10 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. He will next meet 22nd seed Adrian Mannarino for their third Lexus ATP Head2Head series meeting (1-1). The Frenchman Mannarino advanced after defeating Hungarian Fabian Marozsan 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1. Tiafoe will look to extend his 17-match winning streak against lefties, dating back to 2021, when he lost to Liam Broady in Eastbourne.
Ofner, 27, holds the most match wins on the ATP Challenger Tour this season (35-12). The World No. 58 enjoyed a surprise run at Roland Garros, where he reached the fourth round as a qualifier, leading to his Top 100 debut.
Ninth seed Fritz was dialled-in Wednesday, wasting no time to down Peru’s Juan Pablo Varillas 6-1, 6-1, 6-2. The California native won 36 of 44 points behind his first serve and dictated play with his forehand to advance. Fritz showed great toughness in rallies when he needed to play defence and fended off three break points to remain unbroken this week.
“It feels really good to just come on court and take care of business like I did the last two matches,” Fritz said. “At Slams, it’s a bigger draw than all of the other events so it’s a lot more matches and the stakes are a lot higher, so you want it so much more. You get through some of these, play yourself [into] the tournament and you start feeling exactly the level you’re going to show up to play every day.”
Fritz has surrendered just 10 games across his opening two matches and will next aim to reach the fourth round in New York for the first time when he faces 17-year-old qualifier Jakub Mensik, who defeated Frenchman Titouan Droguet 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(1), 6-3.
At eighth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, Fritz joins Medvedev as the only players to win 33 hard-court matches this year.