Taylor Fritz stepped out to face Casper Ruud for a spot in the 2024 US Open quarterfinal, and after a slow start, he was able to win the match in four sets.

Fritz has looked fantastic so far at the US Open, winning several matches without any problems. He bested Matteo Berrettini in straight sets and wins like that showed that the American was serious about challenging for the trophy.

Whether he has the level for it is a genuine question, but he can only play who is in front of him, and in the third round, it was Ruud. The Norwegian player hasn’t looked sharp lately, nor has he looked that great in New York.

He barely won his previous match and lost two sets, which is why many analysts and pundits picked Fritz as the favorite heading into this match. Despite that, it was Ruud who played better in the first set.

He didn’t really overwhelm his opponent, but he did enough to disrupt his rhythm, which was all over the place. Fritz plays a very specific way, but it didn’t work that well in the opening set.

He was rushing and just sent too many balls wide. It caused him to drop the opening set 3-6, but he responded with force in the second set. He was furious, and he took out all of his anger on the tennis ball.

The American smashed ten aces and 19 winners overall in a set in which he applied heavy pressure on Ruud. The Norwegian ultimately caved under the pressure late in the set, dropping it 4-6, which is the momentum Fritz needed.

The problem for Ruud was always finding a counter to Fritz’s game when he caught fire. He didn’t come up with anything special in the third set as he tried to hit on par with his opponent, but that was never his game.

It didn’t work out because the home crowd favorite could break first, which he kept without too many problems for the rest of the set. Fritz won that third set 6-3 because he was once again the better player from the baseline.

He finished with 13 winners compared to only five of Ruud, which wasn’t enough. The Norwegian needed to step into the court more. He gave it an honest attempt, but it was too late because the American was almost unplayable by then.

He blasted four winners in the first game of the fourth set to break his opponent’s serve immediately. By the time it was 2-0, Fritz was up to 8 winners and zero unforced errors.

That was just too good for Ruud, for whom hitting has never been the basis of his game. Fritz then broke once more for a 3-0 lead, and from there, it was a relatively simple cruise to the finish line, as he won the match 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.