LONDON (Reuters) – Fourth seed Alexander Zverev beat American Taylor Fritz 6-7(3) 6-4 6-3 7-6(4) on Saturday to reach the fourth round of Wimbledon and match his best performance at the grasscourt Grand Slam.
The German, who reached the round of 16 at the All England Club in 2017, kept his unforced errors low and repeatedly tested the serve of the 31st-seeded American, who underwent surgery less than a month ago after suffering a knee injury at Roland Garros.
After the first set went without a break of serve, the 23-year-old Fritz raised his game in the tie-breaker to take the lead against Zverev who had failed to convert two breakpoint opportunities.
The players traded service breaks in the second set but Zverev, 24, converted a second opportunity to level the match and then took the lead with a single break of serve in the third.
It was Zverev’s turn to play solidly in the fourth set tie-breaker and despite committing his ninth double-fault he was able to close out the contest when Fritz sent a forehand long.
Zverev hit 45 winners, 19 of them aces, while keeping his unforced errors to 25.
Next up for the German will be Canadian 16th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, who advanced to the round of 16 when Australian Nick Kyrgios retired with an injury.
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; editing by Clare Fallon)
