Taylor Fritz clinches 50th win of 2025 at Shanghai Masters, becomes first American in 20 years to reach milestone

Taylor Fritz has competed non-stop this year, and is reaping the rewards for it. The former US Open finalist picked up his 50th win in a challenging opening match of the Shanghai Masters against Fabian Marozsan, coming back from a set down to win 2-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(1).

The American had just competed in the Japan Open in Tokyo, losing the final against world number one Carlos Alcaraz, who looked imperious throughout. That final was played on Tuesday, giving Fritz a very small time frame to reset and focus on the next tournament at hand.

His opening match in Shanghai would not be a walk in the park like he would have hoped, with Marozsan pushing him to the limit. The Hungarian took the first set, racking up the final five games on the spin to put him in the driving seat. Fritz was no stranger to his having played in a host of battles and tight ties in the Japanese capital.

For the rest of the match there would be no more breaks of serve, but that was ok for Fritz, who utilised his massive serve to force a brace of tiebreakers, coming out on top in both of them to move him into the third round. He will face a familiar foe in Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. The pair embraced in a titanic battle at Wimbledon a few months prior, with Fritz coming from a two-set deficit to advance. The match spanned over two days and three and a half hours but only featured two breaks of serve.

For the third season in a row, the world number five has reached the 50-win milestone, showing off his remarkable consistency and his willingness to play in almost everything. Since not featuring in the Monte-Carlo Open, he has played in 16 tournaments or events. This includes two Grand Slams, four Matsers 1000 events, combined six 500 and 250 tournaments, the Laver Cup, and the Davis Cup.

Not only has he been participating in a whole host of competitions, he has been winning many matches in them, going on deep runs in a lot of them. He has won two titles at Stuttgart and Eastbourne, while making a third final in Japan. He achieved a semi-final in Miami and Toronto, along with a semi-final appearance at Wimbledon.

This has seen him reach the 50 wins mark, but it is not the only time, previously getting this in 2023 (54) and 2024 (53). Overall, this means the Fritz is the first American to record 50 wins in three consecutive season in 20 years. The previous countryman to complete this feet was former US Open champion Andy Roddick, who for now has the edge over Fritz, having reached that tally on four separate occasions between 2002-2005.

There is still more in the tank for the 27-year-old, who only trails Carlos Alcaraz (67), Iga Swiatek (59) and Aryna Sabalenka (56) in terms of yearly wins.

Fritz will look to build on this number in the remaining tournaments of the season. Firstly, he will target glory in Shanghai, before traversing to Saudi Arabia to compete in the Six Kings Slam, as he faces Alexander Zverev in his opening tie in Riyadh. Following this, Fritz will travel to Basel to compete in the Swiss Indoors tournament. The Paris Masters would likely be next on the American number one's mind before he goes to Turin looking to defend and possibly build on his ATP Finals result last year, as he seeks revenge against Sinner for last year's final agony. With all these left on the calendar, Fritz is likely to extend his winning count a lot further.