Fritz: 'Match was crazy fast, Tomic takes five seconds between points'
Entering the season with just six ATP wins on clay by his name, the 21-year-old Taylor Fritz has found the rhythm on the slowest surface this spring, playing in seven straight weeks on it ahead of Roland Garros and delivering seven wins. Taylor reached the third round in Monte Carlo where Novak Djokovic toppled him in straight sets, claiming another win in Barcelona and qualifying for the main draw in Madrid and Rome, passing the first round before losing to Djokovic and Nishikori. Fritz was the semi-finalist in Lyon last week and his Roland Garros campaign could not have started in a better way, toppling Bernard Tomic 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 in an hour and 22 minutes.
Losing 18 points on serve, the American landed 42 winners and hit only 12 unforced errors, taming his shots nicely and repelling three out of four break points. On the other hand, Tomic was far away from the court as many times before, barely giving any effort in sets one and three and suffering seven breaks from no less than 22 chances offered to Taylor, competing on a decent level only in the closing stages of the second set which wasn't enough for more favorable result. After the match, Taylor spoke about his improvements on the slowest surface this spring and the encounter against the Aussie that he won in no time at all.
"I have always liked red clay since when I start playing on it as a junior, I like it more than a green clay. It took me a few years playing on it to learn certain things and learn how to move better on the slowest surface. I always knew I could play well on clay since junior days, it suits my game well. The match got tough in the closing stages of the second set, with some extremely long rallies, I knew if I can get through that it would become more comfortable in the rest of the match and I kept rolling in the third. Overall, the match was very quick and it is always like that against Bernie, he takes like five seconds between points."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2woHRCK
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