Birthday boy Fritz downs friend Paul in St Petersburg

American Taylor Fritz celebrated his 24th birthday by beating doubles partner and close friend Tommy Paul 7-6(3), 6-4 in St. Petersburg on Thursday.

“It makes it even tougher – not just another American, one of my closest friends,” Fritz said.

“It’s never easy playing against a really close friend.”

Fritz took a 3-0 lead in the first set before Paul fought back, but a double fault in the tiebreak gave the set to Fritz. The second was less dramatic, with Fritz breaking and holding serve at critical times to take out the match.

Fritz will next face Australian John Millman, who upset fourth-seed Aslan Karatsev 6-3, 6-2.

Karatsev, who won the Kremlin Cup in Moscow last weekend, blew it at 2-2 in the second set, slamming his racket on to the court and receiving a penalty point that Millman took advantage of.

Peter Rowe

Recent Posts

Nadal goes down in final match

Rafael Nadal lined up for what was to be the final match of his career…

3 days ago

Sinner flattens de Minaur in runaway home start

Jannik Sinner took charge in front of his home crowd on Sunday, crushing ATP Finals…

2 weeks ago

Madcap Medvedev suffers temperamental Turin Finals loss

Daniil Medvedev went into meltdown mode on Sunday during a highly charged 6-4, 6-3 loss, with opponent…

2 weeks ago

Team Sinner considering skipping Monte Carlo

Jannik Sinner could well be missing from the opening European clay event of next season…

2 weeks ago

Davis Cup Final to mark Nadal goodbye to tennis

Rafael Nadal will bring down the curtain on his career next month as he plays his…

1 month ago

Wimbledon lowers the boom on human linecalling

Wimbledon on Wednesday brought an end to human linecalling at the most traditional of the…

1 month ago