De Minaur lost just seven points on his first serve all week in Atlanta. (Getty Images)
I watched de Minaur's performance against Fritz and marveled at it all. He was finding the corners with his first serve at speeds ranging largely from 116 to 127 MPH, and his second serve was consistently deep and reliable. Fritz was hard-pressed throughout the skirmish to do any damage with his returns as de Minaur was unshakable on his delivery, as he had been all week.
But it was not simply the quality of his serving that was allowing the young Australian to control the tempo of this contest and keep Fritz essentially at bay over the course of both sets. More importantly, he backed up both his first and second serves with unerring ground strokes, excellent depth and outstanding ball control. He set the table with the serve but backed it up by devouring shots off both sides that kept Fritz frequently off balance and ill at ease. It was a clinically sound performance from beginning to end, and one that left his American adversary befuddled about what it would take to penetrate de Minaur’s defenses.
The first set of that clash was one-sided in favor of the young Australian. From the outset, Fritz was struggling on serve because de Minaur was making so many remarkable returns on the stretch. After three taxing holds, Fritz slowly succumbed to de Minaur, who held at love for 3-3, broke the 21-year-old in a hard-fought deuce game for 4-3, held at love for 5-3 and broke at 15 on a double fault to seal the set. The Aussie captured 17 of 21 points in that four-game stretch—he made only two unforced errors in the nine-game set, ten less than his adversary.
!
De Minaur backed up both his first and second serves with unerring ground strokes, excellent depth and outstanding ball control. (Getty Images)
And yet, despite being outplayed across the board in that first set, Fritz lifted his game thereafter and served awfully well in the second. In six service games, he conceded only four points. But despite a brief opening with de Minaur serving at 3-3 and the score locked at deuce in the seventh game, Fritz did not make any traction. A composed and confident de Minaur served an ace on that point and held on to maintain his advantage.
When the No. 3 seed double faulted on the first point of the second set tiebreak, Fritz had a chance to perhaps impose himself meaningfully and eventually claim the set. But he missed two first serves in a row, lost both points, and de Minaur never looked back. He collected seven of eight points to close out the tiebreak and take the match comprehensively.
“I’ve been playing great tennis and felt like if I could keep it all together, the good results will come,” de Minaur said in Atlanta. “This is a week that will really help me out.”
So where does de Minaur go from here? I am very encouraged about his prospects. He has the opportunity to make serious inroads in the sport. There are no holes in his game, he is quietly ferocious, and is immensely ambitious. As long as the 20-year-old stays healthy, the immediate path ahead will be uncluttered. He should be able to string together some good hard-court results on the way to the US Open, as he did a year ago when he made it to the final of Washington. If he wins his share of matches in the weeks ahead, he will be a Top 20 seed in New York.