Taylor Fritz is up and running on grass in 2023.
The American opened his campaign on the surface with victory at the BOSS OPEN on Thursday, defeating Aslan Karatsev 7-6(4), 6-3 at the ATP 250 event in Stuttgart.
Fritz lifted the trophy in Eastbourne and reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon last year and quickly found his range on grass again against Karatsev. He fired 14 aces and saved one set point at 4-5 in the first set to move past the World No. 48 in one hour and 25 minutes.
[ATP APP]
The second seed, currently ninth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, will meet Marton Fucsovics in the quarter-final. Earlier this year, Fritz clinched his fifth tour-level title in Delray Beach.
Earlier, Hungarian qualifier Fucsovics backed up his first-round win against Denis Shapovalov by overcoming Chinese player Yibing Wu. The 31-year-old reached the quarter-finals in Stuttgart in 2019 and 2022 and will aim to better that when he next meets Fritz.