Dallas, Feb 6 (IANS) American No. 1 Taylor Fritz notched up his first home win of the 2025 ATP Tour season, cruising past Arthur Rinderknech 6-4, 6-2 at the Dallas Open on Thursday (IST) to open his campaign at the newly upgraded ATP 500 event.
Fritz lost just six points on serve against Rinderknech and raced through the finish line after breaking in the final game of the opening set. The American fired 11 aces and won 93 per cent (27/29) of his first-serve points, backing up his deliveries with ruthless aggression on short balls, according to ATP Stats.
“It’s nice to go out and just take care of my serve, find a couple breaks and win four and two. I feel like I served a pretty good percentage of first serves (67 per cent)… and they were quality. I was hitting close to lines, mixing it up well, not really giving him a chance to figure out where I was serving or get a good hit on the returns. That was a big key to the match,” Fritz was quoted by the tournament website.
Fritz will next face Denis Shapovalov, the Canadian beat Miomir Kecmanovic 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3 to extend his perfect record to 5-0 in their ATP Head-to-Head.
Earlier on the day, wildcard Reilly Opelka advanced with a 7-6(3), 6-4 win against Alexander Shevchenko. Qualifier Michael Mmoh also progressed with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 result over Roberto Carballes Baena. It was Mmoh’s first tour-level victory since last April in Houston.
The 27-year-old missed the second half of the 2024 season with an elbow injury and is making his return to ATP Tour action this week after opening his 2025 campaign at an ATP Challenger Tour event in Cleveland.
Sixth seed Tomas Machac also opened his tournament with an efficient win 6-2, 6-2 over Kei Nishikori. Bidding to reach the quarterfinals or better for the third straight time at an ATP 500, the 24-year-old Czech saved all four break points he faced against the Japanese star.
–IANS
bc/
