Flawless Fritz eases past Varillas into US Open third round

NEW YORK (Reuters): Ninth seed Taylor Fritz marched into the third round of the U.S. Open with a 6-1 6-2 6-2 win over Juan Pablo Varillas on Wednesday to match his best result at his home Grand Slam.

Fritz, who is bidding to become the first U.S. man to win a major in two decades, has shown his best form on hard courts this season and secured his 33rd victory on the surface to go level with Daniil Medvedev at the top.

“It’s great to just have these matches. They’re also good confidence builders,” said Fritz, who has dropped only 10 games in two matches so far. “I haven’t had the easiest time this year getting through these early rounds so it feels really good to come on court and take care of business like I did in the last two matches.”

Fritz set the tone at Louis Armstrong Stadium by breaking Peruvian Varillas in the second game and grabbed another break late in the opening set to close it out in only 26 minutes.

Varillas struggled to deal with the power and accuracy that Fritz produced but the 27-year-old did not help his own cause with a flurry of errors – 29 in the match overall – and allowed his opponent to double his lead comfortably.

Fritz encountered a little more resistance in the third set but got his nose in front and held firm for a win that set up a third-round encounter with Czech qualifier Jakub Mensik.