Shanghai Masters: Taylor Fritz moves into the semis with straight sets victory

Taylor Fritz entered the semi-finals of ATP Masters 1000 for the fifth time in his career after a comprehensive straight sets victory over David Goffin at the Rolex Shanghai Masters.

The 26-year-old American marched into the last four in Shanghai with a 6-3, 6-3 triumph against David Goffin in an hour and 22 minutes on Friday.

“I feel like sometimes it takes a couple of matches to find my routines, to find what feels good and what is working for me,” said Fritz after reaching his fifth Masters 1000 semi-final overall. “I feel like once I get past the first two rounds, I feel very locked in. I’ve come this far already, so I might as well really dial it in and I’m just enjoying being here.”

“I think I’ve been serving pretty well all week, especially in the match against Holger [Rune] and today,” said Fritz, who won 70 per cent (14/20) of points behind his second delivery in his quarter-final win. “I knew I had to. I knew serves that might work well against somebody else might not necessarily work against Goffin.

“The one thing I remembered about playing him is that he’s an incredible returner, and serves I’m not used to seeing come back, they come back. So I really had to be on it with my serve and extra aggressive with second serves.”

Fritz has now reached his third hard-court Masters 1000 semi-final, and his first since he lifted his only trophy at that level at the 2022 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

Standing in Fritz’s way in the semi-finals will be record-four-time Shanghai titlist Novak Djokovic or #NextGenATP Czech Jakub Mensik. The pair will contest their quarter-final in Friday’s night session inside Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena.