12^th seed Taylor Fritz of the United States will face seventh-seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece in the Australian Open fourth round. 

 

Stefanos Tsitsipas already defeated Taylor Fritz at this stage of the Australian Open (round of 16) two years ago. The Greek found himself in a difficult position, with Fritz earning a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 lead, but Tsitsipas eventually recovered to wrap up a 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory - his third consecutive win over the American. 

 

Remarkably, Fritz beat Tsitsipas 6-2, 6-4 in the Monte Carlo quarter-finals last season. That happened at the Greek's residence (as of many other top players) as the American reached his maiden Masters 1000 semi-final on clay, where he lost to eventual winner Andrey Rublev in three sets.  

 

You wouldn't expect Fritz to earn his first victory over Tsitsipas on clay courts, though. He also won two exhibition meetings against him at the Boodles Tennis Challenge (on grass) in 2015 and 2018, but the Greek is dominant on hard-courts - winning all three of their previous meetings on the surface. 

 

The winner will advance to face either the top-seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia or 20^th seed Adrian Mannarino of France in the next round. 

 

The No 12 seed faced a setback in fitness at the end of last season, impacting his performance. He was also forced to withdraw during the Paris Masters. As a result, he has been displaying relatively ordinary tennis in the early days of the new year.

 

However, winning matches even on bad days or when not playing the best tennis is a quality that Fritz has evolved over the past seasons, contributing significantly to his ascent as a Top 10 player. The American has demonstrated this skill twice already in the first week of the 2024 Australian Open. 

 

Taylor Fritz remained the last seeded American in the men's competition following the latest defeats of Tommy Paul and Alex Michelsen. 

 

Fritz is yet to go beyond the fourth round at the Australian Open but the American reached his first US Open quarter-final a couple of months ago. 

 

He now hopes to build on his recent Australian Open record. The American already reached the round of 16 in 2022, when his Australian campaign was ended exactly by his current opponent. 

 

Twelve months ago, the United States had three American men into the Australian Open quarter-finals and also an all-American tie between Tommy Paul and Ben Shelton. One year later, all three of them are knocked out already, while Taylor Fritz, who suffered a second round exit last year, is delivering promising results. 

 

Fritz had a challenging start to his Australian Open campaign as he had to roll up his sleeves to survive a five-setter against clay-court specialist Facundo Díaz Acosta of Argentina. The Argentine led 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 but Fritz eventually won the match. 

 

He continued with a dominant victory over French lucky loser Hugo Gaston in the second round, dropping just four games in the match, while Fritz once again dropped the first set but ultimately secured a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 against Fabian Marozsan of Hungary in the third round.

 

Having reached the Australian Open semifinals in each of the last three editions, Stefanos Tsitsipas is now bidding to go one step further. He already reached the grand final last year after he conceded back-to-back semi-final exits in 2021 and 2022. 

 

The top-ranked Greek has been grappling with a back injury for the past calendar year, and competing without full recovery resulted in a great number of subpar performances and disappointing results throughout the season. 

 

After reaching the Australian Open final last January, where he lost in straight sets to Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas was far from convincing throughout the season. He reached the final of the Barcelona Open, where he lost to Carlos Alcaraz, and won his only title in 2023 at the Los Cabos Open in Mexico (in August). 

 

Last year’s finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas lost his first set at Melbourne Park in 2024 but he quickly rallied himself to secure a 5-7, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 victory over Zizou Bergs of Belgium, who replaced injured Italian Matteo Berrettini. 

 

Many would probably agree that Tsitsipas has dodged a bullet - a match against Berrettini is always challenging but the Italian was forced to withdraw due to a right foot injury.

 

The 25-year-old Greek went on to beat home favorite Jordan Thompson 4-6, 7-6, 6-2, 7-6 in the second round, before his most comfortable win so far - a 6-3, 6-0, 6-4 victory over French teenager Luca Van Assche in the third round. 

 

A dominant performance against an inexperienced player like Luca Van Assche might not be sufficient to overcome such a significant setback, yet it marks a positive start so it will be fascinating to follow Tsitsipas' progress from this point onwards. 

 

The Americans are fighting to become a power in men's tennis once again and they're showing signs of revival. And right now Fritz remains their last hope of making history Down Under. 

 

Even though Taylor Fritz is yet to reach a final on clay courts, he's one of the new generation players who are adept on all surfaces. Something that is an entirely refreshing change of pace from the big-serve-big-forehand style of recent American players.

 

With the exception of the late 80's and 1990s, US men have never done particularly well on clay. But Fritz is one of the players who have the potential to do good on the surface. 

 

Michael Chang's sensational triumph at the 1989 French Open ushered in a golden age for American men’s tennis. Chang was joined by the likes of Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Jim Courier. 

 

Collectively the quartet won a total of 27 Major titles (with Sampras’s 14 leading the way) over a 15-year period, from Chang’s success in Paris through to Agassi’s last Grand Slam at the Australian Open in 2003.

 

And things seemed to be just fine for the next generation of American men players after Andy Roddick, then just 21, clinched the US Open Championship later in 2003. Considered the future of American tennis since he was a teenager, Roddick failed to win more Major titles and remains the last American man to win a Grand Slam singles title. 

 

With that said, we don't mean that Taylor Fritz is a genuine contender to win the Australian Open crown in 2024, but he has a fine opportunity to reach another Grand Slam quarter-final if he finds the rhythm to exploit Tsitsipas’ vulnerabilities.