Fritz, Isner Lead American Charge In Lyon

#NextGenATP American Taylor Fritz picked up his second win of the season against compatriot Jack Sock, No. 15 in the ATP Rankings, to reach the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Lyon quarter-finals on Wednesday. Fritz hit eight aces and swept the third-seeded Sock 7-6(6), 6-2 in 92 minutes.

The 20-year-old Fritz also beat Sock at the clay-court Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship last month en route to his second ATP World Tour semi-final. Fritz is in fourth place in the ATP Race To Milan, which will determine seven of the eight players who compete at the Next Gen ATP Finals, to be held 6-10 November in Milan. The eighth player will be determined by an all-Italian qualifying tournament.

Fritz will look to reach his third ATP World Tour semi-final on Thursday when he faces Serbian Dusan Lajovic. The Mutua Madrid Open quarter-finalist (l. to Anderson) beat qualifier Filip Horansky 6-4, 7-5 to notch his 10th tour-level match win this season.

Second seed John Isner overcame a tough second-round challenge to battle past Radu Albot 7-6(3), 6-3. The Miami Open presented by Itaú champion saved a set point at 5-6 (30/40) in the first set, before taking a one-set lead and clinching the only break of the second set to advance after one hour and 37 minutes. The 33-year-old now leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with Albot 2-1, having split their two previous encounters in the U.S. earlier this year. 

Isner will face Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie in the quarter-finals. The 22-year-old won 83 per cent of first-service points to defeat Germany’s Maximilian Marterer 6-1, 6-4 in 61 minutes.

Did You Know?
This week, Isner is bidding to reach his fourth ATP World Tour final on clay. The American won his only clay-court title at the 2013 Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship (d. Almagro) after finishing as runner-up in 2012 (l. to Monaco). Isner reached his first final on clay in 2010, losing to countryman Sam Querrey in Belgrade.