By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, March 18, 2022
Taylor Fritz fired 14 aces in a 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-1 win over Miomir Kecmanovic advancing to his second straight Indian Wells semifinal.
Photo credit: Getty
Once, a young Taylor Fritz roamed the Indian Wells Tennis Garden as an eager autograph seeker.
These days, Fritz continues to make his mark as emphatic closer at his home event.
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Fritz fired 14 aces in a 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-1 win over Miomir Kecmanovic advancing to his second straight Indian Wells semifinal.
"Yeah, it's awesome. Obviously a lot of it is just the crowd is so on my side here, always kind of going for me," Fritz said. "I just want to, like, arms out, smile, just kind of like take it all in.
"Those are the moments, the reason why I play tennis, the reason why I wanted to be a professional athlete as a kid. It's the reason why I do it, is that moment when you win, you can just kind of finally relax, let it all out. Especially with the crowd, I'm taking it in."
A horror-show service game that saw the Southern Californian spit up three double faults in the eighth game cost Fritz the second set.
Shaking that lapse off, Fritz sharped his serve in the decider winning 16 of 18 points on serve in the final set, held at love in three of his last four service games and slashed successive aces sealing a one hour, 57-minute triumph.
"I've never done that in my life," Fritz said of losing touch with tennis reality. "Like, I actually have no idea. I literally forgot how to play tennis for a game.
"I really could have easily let that bother me a lot, let it affect me in the third set. I kind of just tried to laugh it off and forget about it. Kind of embarrassing. I think a lot of people saw that."
The serve that went kablooey in the second set was the statement shot in the decider.
"I just regrouped in the third. I just told myself it was a fluke, that's not going to happen again," Fritz said. "Told myself I had lots of chances to break serve in the second set. He only had the one where I literally forgot how to play tennis. I told myself to regroup, do the same thing I did in the second set, take care of my serve, win those break points. That's what I did."
Five months ago, a fired-up Fritz fought off two match points roaring back to stun third-seeded Alexander Zverev 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(3) and reach his first Masters 1000 semifinal at Indian Wells.
Tomorrow, Fritz will face red-hot Andrey Rublev for a spot in his first Masters 1000 final.
Earlier, Rublev rolled past Grigor Dimitrov 7-5, 6-2 to his 13th consecutive victory.
The seventh-ranked Rublev, who captured back-to-back championships in Marseille and Dubai, will carry an 18-2 record into the semifinals. The pair have split four prior meetings with Fritz winning their first encounter 6-4, 7-6(4) at the 2018 BNP Paribas Open and their most recent meeting 7-5, 7-6(2) at the Rolex Paris Masters last fall.
Tuning into the serving muse, Fritz was nearly invincible on serve for stretches throwing down four love holds in his first five service games.
In the 11th game, Kecmanovic applied pressure earning his first two break points of the set. A bold backhand down the line saved one as Fritz fought through his toughest hold of the day for 6-5.
Fritz powered to a 5-1 lead in the tiebreaker only to see Kecmanovic respond with a four-point run after they changed sides. Fritz flashed a forehand winner for set point and buried a body serve to snatch a one-set lead.
Poking a backhand return winner down the line drew Fritz even at deuce and Kecmanovic sprayed an error to face break point in the seventh game. Kecmanovic saved it wristing a backhand down the line but missed a running forehand to face a sixth break point. Sending a second serve into the body, Kecmanovic saved it to come through a hard-fought hold for 4-3.
Kecmanovic’s escape act was a prelude to an atrocious Fritz service game.
Crowding the baseline on return, Kecmanovic drew back-to-back double faults from Fritz to earn triple break point. Decelerating his Head racquet on a toss behind his head, Fritz coughed up his third consecutive double fault and swiped at the court in disgust donating the break and a 5-3 lead in a horrific game.
Serving for a third set, Kecmanovic saw two set points slip away.
On his third set point, the Serbian slammed a bounce smash down the line seizing the second set with a shout.
A fantastic tweener from Fritz followed by a forehand pass helped the American start the decider with a bang.
The Serbian’s momentum dissipated rapidly as Kecmanovic blew a 30-love lead committing consecutive errors to hand Fritz the break and a 2-0 lead in the decider.
Fritz fired his 11th ace down the T confirming the break.
The final set was all about the Fritz serve as he slammed an ace out wide then thumped his 14th ace down the T to finish emphatically.