Fritz Powers Past Cilic into Dallas Final – Tennis Now
Top-seeded Taylor Fritz is into the final at the Dallas Open after nudging past 37-year-old Marin Cilic, 7-6(5) 7-6(3) on Saturday afternoon. The Southern California native is into his 20th ATP final, his first in Dallas and second at the event (Fritz reached the final in 2016 when the event was held in Memphis).
The seventh-ranked American showed no ill effects from the elbow injury that bothered him during his quarterfinal win over Sebastian Korda on Friday as he hammered 22 aces past Cilic
“Just really calm serving. I think that’s the biggest thing when I feel calm and relaxed, I serve well,” Fritz said after his third win in four matches against the 2014 US Open champion and former world No.3.
Fritz never faced a break point, but Cilic hung on, saving all five break points he faced to force tiebreaks in both sets.
It was there that the American showed his steel.
Fritz pulled out to a 3-0 lead in the first-set breaker and never trailed as he converted his third set point to take the lead.
In the second set he trailed briefly but not for long.
The 28-year-old improves to 8-4 on the season and will face either defending champion Denis Shapovalov or Ben Shelton in the final.
