Taylor Fritz pounded his 24th ace on match point to complete a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 comeback over Casper Ruud, upending the Norwegian eighth seed in just under three hours.
The American who had never defeated the Scandinavian lost to Ruud in the Roland Garros fourth round last spring; Fritz now owns his third Top 10 win at Grand Slam level,
He will be playing his fifth quarter-final at a major – and his second in a row here.
“I had to stay in it,” Fritz, who had 56 winners, said. “He outplayed me in the first set, he took his chances.
“But I did a really good job to fight and get through some tight games in the second, I was able to apply some pressure.
“His level seemed to drop a bit and it was more playable for me. I was able to get through it from there.”
Fritz added: “I’m most happy with the fact that I didn’t get frustrated.”
Ninth seeded Grigor Dimitrov needed to go the distance to get past no. 6 Andrey Rublev in a battle of elites, winning 6-3, 7-6 (3), 1-6, 3-6, 6-2 in three and three-quarter hours.
A decade ago, the 33-year-old Bulgarian reached two Grand Slam quarter-finals in the same season – a feat he has now repeated in 2024. He last played the quarters here five years ago..
His defeat of Rublev – who needed medical attention after bloodying his knuckles after hitting them with his racquet in first-set frustration – was his 450th at the Tour level.
Dimitrov saved two break points in the penultimate game before serving out the win.
“I was playing fairly good I think the first two sets,” he told the crowd. “I’m celebrating every single day that I get to be out here.
“But for some reason my body was starting to lose its rhythm a bit. I think today the biggest thing that helped me was my experience and you guys.”
