Taylor Fritz's Shocking Exit at the US Open
Taylor Fritz walked off Arthur Ashe Stadium staring into the middle distance, a two-set lead and a golden route through the US Open draw gone without any clear explanation.
“I don't even know what to say,” he admitted. “I don't really want to talk to anybody, see anybody.”
For a while, there had been nothing to explain. The American ninth seed was cruising. He owned the baseline, controlled the rallies, and went up an early break in the third set against Francisco Cerundolo. At his home Slam, in a half of the draw stripped of giants, this looked like the moment Fritz finally stamped his authority on Flushing Meadows.
Then the match turned. Hard. And it never turned back.
Cerundolo, the Argentine who had looked second best for two sets, suddenly started landing heavy forehands and pushing Fritz deeper and deeper behind the baseline. The scoreboard shifted: 3-6, 4-6, 6-3. What had been a procession became a street fight.
The pressure told on Fritz. His first serve deserted him at key moments, his footwork grew ragged, and the certainty that had defined his opening two sets vanished. Cerundolo kept swinging, kept believing, and took the fourth set 6-4. By the time the fifth set reached its closing stretch, it was the American who looked trapped and tight, the Argentine who looked free.
Cerundolo completed the shock: 3-6 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-4. Fritz, a finalist here in 2024 and one of the main hopes to end the 23-year wait since Andy Roddick’s title, could only watch his opportunity evaporate.
“I need to get out for a couple days and then get back to work,” he said. “I don't know how I let that happen today.”
The loss cut deeper because of the landscape around him. Novak Djokovic, the man chasing a record 25th Grand Slam title, had already gone. On the opening day, the fourth seed was stunned in five sets by Argentina’s Mariano Navone, leaving the Serb in tears and the tournament suddenly stripped of its most familiar predator.
Arthur Fils, the 10th seed, followed Djokovic out. The Frenchman, burdened by expectation, ran into the more seasoned Grand Slam presence of Stefanos Tsitsipas and lost in four sets to the former world number three.
Then came the biggest name in the top half to fall so far: Felix Auger-Aliassime. The Canadian third seed, tipped as one of the leading contenders, was beaten in round two by Karen Khachanov. Sixth seed Alex de Minaur also exited at the same stage, another pillar of the draw knocked away.
The exits of Djokovic, Auger-Aliassime, de Minaur and Fils seemed to clear a runway for players like Fritz and Flavio Cobolli. No Jannik Sinner. A Carlos Alcaraz only just back from a wrist injury. A home crowd desperate for an American men’s champion again. The path looked open.
Then that, too, collapsed.
Less than an hour after Fritz’s defeat, Cobolli, the fifth seed, fell apart against Alexander Blockx. The Italian edged a tight first set on a tie-break, 7-6 (7-4), and appeared to have steadied himself after dropping the second 3-6. What followed was a collapse.
Cobolli surrendered the third set 0-6 in just 20 minutes, his game unravelling as Blockx stepped in and took control. The Italian never truly recovered, losing the fourth set 3-6 as the Belgian surged to a 7-6 (7-4) 3-6 0-6 3-6 victory that ripped another hole in the seedings.
“I think my energy was a little bit lower than the other days,” Cobolli said. “I feel a little bit more tight and maybe more tired.”
He did not look for excuses. “Alex is very good guy outside the court. He deserved to win, and he won,” he added, even promising to support Blockx in the next round.
That next round now carries unexpected weight. Cerundolo against 28th seed Blockx, with a place in the quarter-finals on the line. On paper, it is the kind of match-up that usually appears in the early days of a Slam. Here, it helps shape the destiny of the top half.
The numbers tell the story of how open that half has become. With Fritz and Cobolli out, only three top-20 players remain there. One is the top seed Alexander Zverev. The other two, Learner Tien (14th seed) and Jakub Mensik (17th seed), face each other on Friday.
Zverev, suddenly, stands alone as the established heavyweight. The draw has broken in such a way that he could, in theory, reach the final without facing a single top-10 opponent and without meeting anyone ranked inside the top 20 before the semi-finals. For a player still chasing his first major, the opportunity is enormous.
For Fritz, it is the one that got away. He was bidding to become the fifth American man into the fourth round this year, feeding a growing belief that this might finally be the year a home player lifts the trophy again. Instead, he joins the long list of big names who will watch the second week from home, wondering how a match that felt safe slipped through their fingers.
The same question will linger for Cobolli, whose chance at a maiden Grand Slam title now moves back to the Australian summer.
Away from the chaos of the singles, the British contingent in the men’s doubles found more solid footing. Arthur Fery and Joshua Paris edged through a tight contest, beating Anirudh Chandrasekar and Ivan Liutarevich 6-4 5-7 6-4. Neal Skupski and his American partner Christian Harrison, the fifth seeds, produced a commanding performance, sweeping aside Arthur Reymond and Luca Sanchez 6-0 7-6 (7-3).
Not all British stories ended well. David Stevenson and Marcus Willis pushed hard but fell 5-7 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 to the 11th seeds Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul.
So the first week closes with a men’s draw that looks nothing like the one that appeared on paper. The favourites are out, the path is broken, and the top seed suddenly sees daylight.
The question now is simple: who has the nerve to walk through it?
