February 6, 2025
American No. 1 Taylor Fritz wasted no time in notching his first home win of the 2025 ATP Tour season. The top seed at the Dallas Open cruised past Arthur Rinderknech 6-4, 6-2 on Wednesday evening to open his campaign at the newly upgraded ATP 500 event.
At a career high of No. 4 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Fritz is the highest-ranked player to compete at this event since No. 4 Andy Roddick in 2007, when the tournament was held in San Jose. The American is seeking to better his 2016 final run at the event; he reached the first of his 16 tour-level finals that season when the event was held in Memphis.
Fritz lost just six points on serve against Rinderknech, according to Infosys ATP Stats, and raced through the finish line after breaking in the final game of the opening set. The American fired 11 aces and won 93 per cent (27/29) of his first-serve points, backing up his deliveries with ruthless aggression on short balls.
“It’s nice to go out and just take care of my serve, find a couple breaks and win four and two,” Fritz said post-match. “I feel like I served a pretty good percentage of first serves [67 per cent]… and they were quality. I was hitting close to lines, mixing it up well, not really giving him a chance to figure out where I was serving or get a good hit on the returns. That was a big key to the match.”
After improving to 3-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head with France’s Rinderknech, following four-set wins at Roland Garros in 2023 and Wimbledon last year, Fritz will next face Denis Shapovalov. The Canadian beat Miomir Kecmanovic 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3 later Wednesday night to extend his perfect record to 5-0 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head.
Earlier on Wednesday, wild card Reilly Opelka advanced with a 7-6(3), 6-4 win against Alexander Shevchenko. Like Fritz, the American did not face a break point. Qualifier Michael Mmoh also progressed with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 result over Roberto Carballes Baena, giving the home nation seven players in the last 16. It was Mmoh’s first tour-level victory since last April in Houston; the 27-year-old missed the second half of the 2024 season with an elbow injury and is making his return to ATP Tour action this week after opening his 2025 campaign at an ATP Challenger Tour event in Cleveland.
Sixth seed Tomas Machac also opened his tournament with an efficient win, 6-2, 6-2 over Kei Nishikori. Bidding to reach the quarter-finals or better for the third straight time at an ATP 500, the 24-year-old Czech saved all four break points he faced against the Japanese star.
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