Fritz Advances To Tokyo SFs After Kyrgios Withdraws

Taylor Fritz moved into the semi-finals of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo on Friday following the withdrawal of Nick Kyrgios due to a left knee issue. The pair had been due to meet in the night session at the ATP 500 event, where Kyrgios lifted the trophy in 2016.

Third seed Fritz had not won a match in three previous appearances in Tokyo but has battled hard to advance through the draw this week in the Japanese capital. The American saw off both James Duckworth and Hiroki Moriya in three sets to set the quarter-final clash with Kyrgios. Those victories came off the back of the American spending a week in full quarantine due to testing positive for COVID-19 in Seoul last week.

Fritz’s opponent in his maiden ATP 500 semi-final will be seventh seed Denis Shapovalov or ninth seed Borna Coric.

Kyrgios has also withdrawn from the doubles draw in Tokyo, where the Australian and his partner Thanasi Kokkinakis had been set to face Mackenzie McDonald and Marcelo Melo in the semi-finals. The American-Brazilian pair will now take on Rafael Matos and David Vega Hernandez in Sunday’s championship match.

[ATP APP]