Taylor Fritz Hits a141 MPH Serve to Advance at Atlanta Open

By Herman Wood

(july 25, 2019) ATLANTA –

Fritz v King

In Thursday night’s feature match at the BB&T Atlanta Open, 21 year old Taylor Fritz took on 28-year-old left handed Kevin King. This was the first match of the tournament for the number two seeded Fritz. King, a former Georgia Tech player, got to this match by beating wildcard Grigor Dmitrov in the first round after going through qualifying, beating two time Atlanta Open finalist Ryan Harrison there. He began the match ranked 405 in the world while Fritz was ranked number 32 and is currently the second highest ranked American. Fritz just won his first title ever at Eastbourne.

Fritz opened the match serving, starting with a double fault and unforced error. He warmed up quickly, hitting a service winner and forcing errors for a hold at 40-30. The lefty King did a little better, waiting until the second point to double fault. His serve was not as fast as Fritz and he had to win his first game with rallies. King was playing deeper behind the baseline, absorbing big ground strokes from Fritz, but stepping in to receive many of Fritz’s returns to cut off the angle. King’s strategy forced three deuces on Fritz’s second service game, though he did ultimately hold.

Serving at two all, Fritz seemed to find another serve gear, hitting a 141 mph ace, the fastest of the tournament. It made for an easier service game to take the match to 3-2. King’s strategy seemed to continue to work, until a superior get and pass by Fritz earned him a break point. King handed him the break with a double fault, 4-2 Fritz. Undaunted, King again challenged the Fritz serve, attacking the net to earn a deuce point, but unforced errors undid him allowing Fritz to close the game with a service winner to lead 5-2. King was unable to hold to stay in the set, double faulting and missing wide on the ad out point to hand the first set to Fritz 6-2.

Fritz opened the second set with a hold and King continued to miss and was broken in his first service game. King was giving it his all, but a lot of pace and precise placement by Fritz was proving too much. Double faults continued to plague King, with the misses almost missing the entire court! King finally got a hold in the fourth game, 3-1 Fritz. He got a lot of appreciation in the fifth game on the first point for a lucky guess on what should have been a Fritz winner that he was able to block into an open court to take the first point. He was able to again work the Fritz service game to deuce and even an ad out. A missed Fritz first serve gave King a chance and he put pressure on with a headlong rush to the net that contributed to a Fritz miss into the net to give him a break back, 2-3, King to serve. A very easy hold by King got the set to 3-3. Fritz was not about to let King get momentum, and matched the quick hold. The late break of King in the first set allowed Fritz to lead the second set out serving, putting pressure on King to keep up even after he was able to break back to even the set.

The pressure was evident on what was to be King’s final service game, as he got down 15-40 and again double faulted to give Fritz the break and an opportunity to close the match. Fritz went for it with big serves, though it was not really necessary with King missing long in rallies. A missed pass by King and the match belonged to Fritz 6-2, 6-3.

When asked if he was satisfied with his play, he said
“Since the clay season, I’ve been playing really well.” He gave credit to the people helping him; “A lot of people have helped guide me some. I’ve built a great team around me.”

He’ll move on to play nineteen-year-old Miomir Kecmanovic in the next round, who pulled off a mild upset of number eight seed Ugo Humbert. Humbert is ranked number 46 while Kecmanovic was ranked number 66 at the beginning of the match.

RESULTS – JULY 25, 2019
Men’s
Singles – Second Round
[2] T. Fritz (USA) d [Q] K. King (USA) 62 63
[3] A. de Minaur (AUS) d B. Klahn (USA) 64 64
M. Kecmanovic (SRB) d [8] U. Humbert (FRA) 62 62
B. Tomic (AUS) d M. Ebden (AUS) 64 76(3)
Men’s
Doubles – Quarterfinals
[4] R. Albot (MDA) / A. Sitak (NZL) d M. Arevalo (ESA) / M. Reyes-Varela (MEX) 64 63
J. Sock (USA) / J. Withrow (USA) d B. McLachlan (JPN) / J. Smith (AUS) 62 63

ORDER OF PLAY – FRIDAY, JULY 26, 2019
STADIUM COURT start 12:00 noon
[3] A. de Minaur (AUS) vs B. Tomic (AUS)
Not Before 2:00 pm
R. Opelka (USA) vs D. Evans (GBR)
C. Norrie (GBR) vs A. Popyrin (AUS)
Not Before 8:00 pm
M. Kecmanovic (SRB) vs [2] T. Fritz (USA)
Not Before 9:00 pm
[1] B. Bryan (USA) / M. Bryan (USA) vs J. Erlich (ISR) / D. Sharan (IND)