By Shrivathsa Sridhar
NEW YORK (Reuters) -American Taylor Fritz kept the Stars and Stripes fluttering at the U.S. Open on Sunday by swatting aside Czech Republic’s 21st seed Tomas Machac 6-4 6-3 6-3 to book his spot in the quarter-finals of the Grand Slam for the third consecutive year.
Last year’s runner-up Fritz is the sole American man left from the 23 who began the main draw and also the nation’s last hope of ending a 22-year major drought since Andy Roddick held aloft the sterling silver trophy at Flushing Meadows in 2003.
The 27-year-old went toe-to-toe with Machac in the opening set, which he clinched with a break in the 10th game after the Czech hit a backhand wide, and dialled up the intensity in the eighth game of the next set at Louis Armstrong Stadium.
A second break handed Fritz the advantage and he quickly doubled his lead in the encounter with a near-flawless service game, leaving his jolted opponent facing a daunting task to reach his maiden major quarter-final.
The writing was on the wall when Fritz fired a swerving ace down the ‘T’ to go 3-1 up in the third set, and the fourth seed held firm to book a last-eight clash with either 24-times Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic or German Jan-Lennard Struff.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in New York; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
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