Cerundolo Beats Fritz From Two Sets Down

Francisco Cerundolo came back from two sets down to beat No. 9 Taylor Fritz 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 on Arthur Ashe Stadium on Saturday, reaching the US Open Round of 16 for the first time, per ESPN and the Associated Press.

Fritz had dropped only 11 games in two rounds. He left New York with his earliest US Open exit in four years and a five-set scar that will sit with American fans all week.

Two sets up, then the flip

Fritz looked locked in through two sets and even broke to open the third. Cerundolo broke right back, settled into his first Ashe appearance, and started finding a level he said was missing earlier in the tournament. The Argentine took the third and fourth, then closed the fifth 6-4 after surviving a late 0-40 hole at 3-4 in the decider, per Tennis Majors.

"I don't know how I let that happen today," Fritz said, per ESPN. Cerundolo put it simply: the fourth and fifth sets were the tennis he could not find in the first two. "I think fourth and fifth I played a really good tennis that I wasn't finding that tennis in the previous sets and the previous rounds," he said.

The Guardian noted Fritz also had break-point chances that would have put him in position to serve for the match. Once those slipped, Cerundolo did not give the home crowd another clean runway. One unfocused service game in the third was enough to shift the whole afternoon.

First R16, Blockx waiting

The win is Cerundolo's first trip to the US Open second week and another top-10 notch for the No. 24 seed. Fritz was one of the cleaner American paths in a wide-open men's draw. That path is gone, and the U.S. men's title drought talk got louder before Week 2 even started.

Next for Cerundolo is No. 28 Alexander Blockx, who knocked out No. 5 Flavio Cobolli earlier in four sets. The men's bracket already lost six of the top 10 seeds by this round. A two-set deficit on Ashe did not stop the Argentine from joining that chaos.

Fritz stormed through the first week looking like a serious title threat. Two sets and a break later, that story flipped into a five-set exit against an Argentine who refused to fold on the biggest court in the building. Cerundolo now gets a Round of 16 date with Blockx and a second-week stage he has never owned here before.

For more Flushing board already on Smacktok, see Tsitsipas beating Lehecka and Alcaraz beating Wu. Saturday on Ashe belonged to the comeback, not the seed.