Will Taylor Fritz's third Grand Slam quarterfinal of 2024 be the charm?

NEW YORK—In 2022, Taylor Fritz showed up at the US Open and, in his own quiet way, let it be known that he felt he could win the tournament. He ended up on the wrong end of a shocking upset, taking a four-set loss to 303^rd-ranked qualifier Brandon Holt.

Fritz learned his lesson and was not about to make the same mistake this year. Not with so much riding on this US Open, where he and his fellow Americans—five of whom are now in the Top 20—have sparked such wild hopes and hype. It wasn’t so long ago that the pressure to win a major lay most heavily on Fritz’s shoulders, while compatriots like Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe were still busy sorting out their games. It’s different now. The load is more well distributed.

“We have, like, four or five guys that are all incredible players,” Fritz said, after advancing to the quarterfinals with an impressive win over Casper Ruud, who was the runner-up here in the same year (2022) that Fritz suffered that painful loss to Holt. “It's great because I think we all—I think we all push each other and make each other better, to be honest.”

Although Fritz has the same ranking as he did at this time in 2020 (No. 12), he’s a better, more settled and consistent player. That was evident in his win over Ruud under the roof in Louis Armstrong Stadium. Fritz took the win in two hours and four minutes, spotting Ruud a set but then cleaning up, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.

The win puts Fritz into the fifth Grand Slam quarterfinal of his career, and his third this year.

Ruud, who was also the runner-up at Roland Garros in 2022 and 2023, had beaten Fritz in their two previous meetings. He’s already Norway's most successful player ever, having climbed as high as No. 2 in the rankings at the end of 2022. He slipped some after that, slowed by illness as well as injury, but he’s been back up to No. 8 on the strength of his punishing, grinder’s game. Despite his diminished profile, he is a clear and present danger.

Fritz looked out of sorts and appeared somewhat sluggish in the first set as the men exchanged heavy, probing groundstrokes game-after-game on serve. Fritz never earned a break point, while Ruud had four—all in a critical game that ended with a break that gave him a 5-3 lead. When he served out the set without losing another point, Fritz appeared to be in deep trouble.

But Fritz is in terrific shape, and he has a major asset that Ruud lacks: that massive serve. Although Fritz wasn’t finding cracks and fissures in Ruud’s formidable defense, a rain of aces and service winners kept him in the hunt. Soon he was catching up—and ultimately pulling away from Ruud.

“The first set and a half were tough. He was playing really well, serving a high percentage,” Fritz said. “I felt like I was getting outplayed. I was just able to keep it close until things kind of started going my way.”

When things went Fritz’s way, they went fast. He broke down Ruud’s resistance in the third set, then sliced through the fourth set like a knife through butter. Ruud seemed to lose steam quickly, a tribute to Fritz’s fitness.

But also, when you crack 24 aces—as Fritz did, to Ruud’s two—matches can slide away from any opponent pretty quickly.

So it’s on to the quarterfinals for Fritz, who was prudent enough not to make any predictions this time. But he did say this:

“I think in the past I've been very, very excited, very happy to make quarterfinals at Slams. . . I think I'm at the point now where I’m still happy to make quarterfinals—but I wouldn't be happy with it ending there.

“I definitely am at the point where I really want more than that.”