Taylor Fritz continued his successful China Open with another win against Nuno Borges in the second round, but pundits noticed something about the American’s game that doesn’t quite compare to Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner’s.
Fritz followed up a win against Gabriel Diallo by dispatching Nuno Borges in straight sets to reach the quarter-final of the Japan Open.
The American will play his compatriot Sebastian Korda in the last eight as he looks to continue the excellent form he’s shown since the grass court season in June.
Fritz has won 29 matches since June, more than Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, but one part of his game was criticised during his match with Borges.
The one aspect where Taylor Fritz doesn’t match up to Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner
Nick Lester and Barry Cowan were on commentary duties for Fritz’s win over Borges and they compared the American to Sinner and Alcaraz.
Fritz is considered one of the few players on the tour who could match up to the best two players in the world, but they noticed one shot that the American doesn’t have over Sinner and Alcaraz.
“That last point is where he is just shy of the top two,” said Lester after watching Fritz dump a cross court return into the net.
“I don’t think Alcaraz and Fritz would have to take a hand off there and if they did I probably think there’s a real chance they’ll still win the point,” he added.
“He’s just a fraction slower in terms of getting out of the corners. That ability to stop and start. He’s a good athlete, he’s a lot better than he was.”
Cowan, on co-commentary, was slightly more sympathetic to Fritz’s cause. “Can I also say, they are a fraction quicker because he’s a good athlete, they are phenomenal athletes,” said the former pro.
Fritz and Alcaraz will compete for the Japan Open trophy, while Sinner has started his Asian leg at the China Open.
Taylor Fritz believes Jannik Sinner is more beatable than Carlos Alcaraz
Fritz has previously gone on record as saying that he believes he has a better chance against Sinner than Alcaraz when they play.
Speaking to The Guardian ahead of Wimbledon, Fritz compared the differences between playing Sinner and Alcaraz.
“I’d say Carlos is the harder opponent for me but I have to add the caveat that when we played in the Laver Cup I ran into the on-fire version of him where it just feels like there’s nothing you can do.”
“So even though obviously Sinner has gotten me several times, pretty routinely, at least in those matches I felt like I could play tennis,” he said.
“In the Laver Cup with Carlos, I felt, for about 80 to 90% of the match, I couldn’t do anything,” the American said about his 2024 match with Alcaraz.
Fritz has just one win each against Sinner and Alcaraz, having lost seven times to the best two players in the world.
