Madrid Open: Taylor Fritz Refuses to Budge From Being America’s No.1 as Ben Shelton’s Poor Efforts Turn Costly

Taylor Fritz‘s performance graph has been following an uptrend throughout this season. The young American managed to rise in big numbers by securing evident positions in various tournaments, right from the start of this season. During this rapid chase for the rankings, the tennis star recently overtook Ben Shelton‘s position with his performance at the Bavarian International. However, continuing the same levels in Madrid, he continues to move past him. Indeed justifying his claycourt persona “Claylor”.

It hasn’t been long since Taylor Fritz made it to the finals of the Bavarian International. Sweeping off opponents like Jack Draper and Cristian Garin, the tennis star made it to the finals, where he faced a defeat against Jan-Lennard Struff. However, despite the defeat, the points he earned on his run were enough to help him surpass Ben Shelton’s position and become the highest-ranked American.

While everyone expected a brawl between the two, Fritz seemed to deny it because of his consistency. Looking at his current performance at the Madrid Open, the 26-year-old is showing no signs of weakness. In a total of four matches that he played so far, Fritz dropped just one set in his last match against Argentine Francisco Cerundolo, finally securing a place in the semi-finals.

On the other hand, the American hopeful Ben Shelton’s bid for Madrid glory was cut short in the Round of 32 by a surprising defeat to Alexander Bublik. While Bublik is a talented player, his current ranking(17th) sits lower than Shelton’s(14th), marking a failure for Shelton to cope with the ongoing tussle of rankings against Fritz.

With this achievement, Fritz not only marks consistency in his clay court performance but also adds a layer to securing his ranking against Ben Shelton. Currently holding the 13th position in the international rankings, the 26-year-old solidifies his position along with being stable on his run for the title in Madrid.

Now that Fritz looks forward to his upcoming semi-final match against Andrey Rublev, it still remains to be seen if he will be able to climb more stairs on the quest of being the topmost-ranked American.

Taylor Fritz blasts a bunch of records with his performance in Madrid

Besides propelling him into the semi-finals, Taylor Fritz’s recent win over Francisco Cerundolo helped him attain several feats. Browsing the feats that he secured on his run for the title in Madrid, Fritz became the first American to make it to the semi-finals ever since Madrid became a clay court tournament back in 2009.

Along with that, the recent three-setter victory helped him round off the number of his wins. According to the records, the recent win over the Argentine marked the 250th for the 26-year-old, placing him in elite company – he’s only the sixth player born in 1995 or later (and the fourth from 1997) to reach this impressive milestone.

As Fritz continues to add more records to his budding portfolio, it is evident that he has started to build a firm grip on clay.