By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, March 25, 2016
David Ferrer fought off two set points in the opening set grinding down 18-year-old qualifier Taylor Fritz, 7-6 (6), 6-1 in his Miami Open opener.
Photo credit: Miami Open
The purple Crandon Park Court was a crossroads. David Ferrer drove through the collision with confidence.
A clash between veteran world No. 8 Ferrer and talented teenage No. 81 Taylor Fritz featured some pulsating exchanges in a grueling, sticky opening set.
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Ferrer fought off two points in the first set then stretched the court and drained Fritz's legs through the heat of the second, grinding through a 7-6 (6), 6-1 victory to reach the Miami Open third round. Ferrer will face Lucas Pouille for a spot in the round of 16.
In his second career match against a Top 10 player, the youngest man in the ATP Top 100 showed he has the game to contend with the world's elite, but must beef up his strength and stamina to sustain his level of play against the best.
Fritz double faulted to donate the break in the opening game.
The 2012 Paris-Bercy champion made that break stand through much of a challenging first set.
In the fourth game, Fritz earned double break point. Playing an assertive point, he pushed a full-stretch forehand volley wide on the first break point. Ferrer banged a slider serve out wide to erase the second. Calming the uprising, Ferrer burrowed through for 3-1.
Serving for set, Ferrer ran into trouble as Fritz used some whipping forehands for break point. A flying Ferrer swooped in swatting a high forehand volley off the sideline to erase it. Measuring a second serve, Fritz bolted a backhand return winner down the line breaking back for 5-all.
Staring down break point in the 11th game, Fritz unloaded success aces, including a 133 mph blast, then worked over the former French Open finalist's backhand holding for 6-5.
Ferrer faced set point, but won a grinding rally to erase it, eventually forcing the tie breaker.
Neither man managed separation in the breaker.
Fritz slid a wicked slice off the line to earn a second set point at 6-5, but Ferrer drilled a deep return off a 120 mph serve to deny it. A double fault gave Ferrer set point and when Fritz sailed a backhand, the 33-year-old Ferrer walked to his court side seat, his lemon yellow shirt saturated with sweat after a physical 75-minute set.
The good news for Fritz was he displayed the baseline acumen and consistency to fight one of the game's fiercest competitor on largely even terms.
The bad news?
Ferrer, who skipped Indian Wells, played like a man just getting warmed up. When Fritz put a lurching shot into net, Ferrer broke for a 2-0 second-set lead and could see his opponent struggling physically.
Bending over and staring at his shoe tops between points sometimes and lacking the lift to go up after his serve, Fritz double faulted to face another break-point in the fourth game. Spinning a forehand long, he dropped serve and his Head racquet.
Across the net, Ferrer looked empowered by the sweaty strain. Inspecting two balls in his fist, Ferrer unloaded through a love game extending the lead to 5-0 after 22 minutes of play in the second set.
At that point, capitulation seemed inevitable.
Credit Fritz for fighting off four match points—including rocketing a 127 mph ace to save the second match point—working through his first hold of the set.
The teenager saved a fifth match point before Ferrer induced a backhand error, ending it. The pair exchanged a respectful handshake with Fritz telling Ferrer "too good" and the Spaniard tapping him on the chest in response.