Fritz Beats Blanch at US Open

Taylor Fritz beat Darwin Blanch 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in the first round of the 2026 US Open on Tuesday at Arthur Ashe Stadium. The No. 9 seed needed about an hour and 40 minutes, hit 14 aces, and never dropped serve against an 18-year-old American wildcard playing his Flushing Meadows main-draw debut.

This was the second match of the day on Ashe. Fritz, the 2024 finalist, treated it like a work shift. Heavy first serve, short points, and a kid on the other side who had to live with second serves and double faults.

How Fritz took the first two sets

He put 74 percent of his first serves in play and won 91 percent of those points. Tennis.com had him dropping only one first-serve point in the opening set. The break came in the sixth game, and that was the set, 6-3.

Blanch started leaking errors in the second. Fritz converted his fourth break point in the fifth game, broke again in the seventh, and closed it 6-2. Blanch finished with one ace and nine double faults. Fritz had one double fault. The serve gap was the whole story.

The only break points he faced

Blanch sent another ball past the baseline on break point to open the third set. Fritz then had to deal with the only two break points he saw all afternoon, in the second game. He erased them with an ace and a firm backhand. An unreturnable serve finished it, 6-4.

He was 4-for-16 on break points and 2-for-2 on break points saved. He held all 14 service games. Afterward he was not in the mood to compliment his own return. "It's never easy to come out and play another young American," he said. "He gave me a lot of opportunities with some doubles, with some second serves."

What is next for Fritz?

Either Mattia Bellucci of Italy or Hungarian qualifier Zsombor Piros waits in the second round. Fritz arrived in New York after winning in Washington and then losing his Montreal opener. Tuesday did not look like that Montreal loss.

Home fans already had Monday night from Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton. Fritz gave them a clean afternoon. Madison Keys had already won the Ashe leadoff, 7-5, 6-4 over Alina Korneeva, while rain still sat on the outer courts. Fritz did not need a crowd to invent drama. He needed first serves, and he hit them.