American Taylor Fritz backed up a three-hour, 6-7(2) 6-3 6-4 win over Andy Murray of their rain-postponed match with a 6-3 6-3 dismantling of Jordan Thompson within the night session to achieve the Washington Open semis on Friday.
Murray overcame an early break of serve within the marathon first set to power a tiebreak that was dominated by the veteran three-time main champion from Scotland.
The American high seed Fritz broke once more early within the second set, which was sufficient to seal the set and stretch the competition right into a decider.
Within the tight third set, Fritz took benefit of a sloppy service sport from Murray to reach on the doorstep of victory at 5-4.
However Murray was not completed and threatened to degree when he jumped forward 0-40 within the subsequent sport.
Fritz, who crushed 17 aces, managed to serve his approach out of bother and hit a beautiful lunging volley to arrange match level, which he transformed with a cross-court forehand winner.
The match showcased not solely each gamers’ uncooked energy but in addition their versatility, with every deploying deft drop pictures at important instances, usually resulting in entertaining rallies on a sizzling and humid day.
Play was halted at one level by local weather change protesters who threw giant tennis balls with flames printed on them onto the courtroom and unfurled banners calling on match sponsors Mubadala and Citi to cease funding the fossil gas business.
Fritz then capped a four-hour and 20-minute workday with a stress-free straight units win over the Australian Thompson beneath the lights.
He’ll face Tallon Griekspoor for the place within the last after the Dutchman overwhelmed American J.J. Wolf 7-5 6-4 within the afternoon session.
Hometown hero Frances Tiafoe was unable to handle two wins throughout his double shift on Friday.
Tiafoe rifled a forehand passing shot on match level to dispatch 18-year-old qualifier Shang Juncheng 6-2 6-3 of their postponed spherical of 16 tie, earlier than operating right into a buzzsaw within the type of Briton Dan Evans, who cruised to a 6-4 7-5 triumph.
Within the semis, Evans will tackle Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, who reached the semi-finals with out hitting a ball after he was handed a walkover by Frenchman Ugo Humbert.