"He can take it early": Taylor Fritz highlights Gabriel Diallo's most impressive quality after beating him at Canadian Open

America’s Taylor Fritz is going through a great phase in his career. The 27-year-old is currently the highest-ranked American player in the ATP rankings and has won 13 out of his last 15 matches across different competitions. One of those two defeats came in the semifinal of Wimbledon against then-defending champion Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz. On the other hand, two of those 13 wins came during the ongoing Canadian Open.

In the second round, Fritz defeated Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena in straight sets with a score of 7-5, 7-6. In the third round, Fritz got the better of the local player Gabriel Diallo in straight sets with a score of 6-4, 6-2. Before facing Diallo, Fritz was asked by reporters during a media talk about what he was expecting from the crowd. In response to that, Fritz, at that time, stated that he was prepared to face a hostile environment. “Mentally, I’m ready for it,” he said. “I’m not going out there thinking that the crowd is going to be supporting me or anything like that. I know they are going to be crazy for him.”

Talking after the match, Fritz stated that he was surprised to see the crowd not hostile at all during the match. Fritz stated that the crowd was ‘very mild’ during the contest and suggested that the behaviour of the spectators during the match once again showed how everyone in Canada is ‘so nice’ in general.

“To be honest, I thought the crowd was very mild for me playing… mild is not the right word, just nice to me playing the last player in the tournament from Canada,” he said. “I thought it was going to be a little bit more hostile, but I guess everyone is just so nice. I’ve dealt with a lot worse, so I’m always prepared for the worst.”

It was Fritz’s second meeting against Diallo in the space of a month. Previously, the two faced off in the second round of Wimbledon, where Fritz came out on top in a five-set thriller with a score of 3-6, 6-3, 7-6, 4-6, 6-3. Fritz was asked during the press talk about which areas he thinks are the strongest for Diallo. He responded by stating that while Diallo’s service is ‘very tough’ to return, his ability to return the second serve is awe-inspiring, something he said he noticed during the Wimbledon fixture as well.

“I mean, the obvious thing is his serve is very tough to return,” said Fritz. "But the things I can pick out, especially from Wimbledon that I thought he did very well, he returns second serves really well, especially off his backhand, he can take it early and really press you if you’re missing your first serve, and then from the baseline he’s good too, he can attack with his forehand, his backhand is very solid, flat through the court, goes line with it well. He doesn’t let you play a lot of defense, because he’ll come in and cut it off at the net. He does a lot of things really well.”

Fritz’s next round opponent will be the Czech Republic’s Jiri Lehecka. The 23-year-old secured his spot in the round of 16 after beating France’s Arthur Fils with a score of 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. It will be the fourth meeting between the two players in professional tennis. In the previous three meetings, Fritz had a clear advantage as he emerged victorious on every occasion. Interestingly, all three of those meetings came in 2023, and all of them were played on a hard court. Their last meeting came in the round of 64 of the Cincinnati Open, where Fritz came out on top in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 6-2.