It has been a horror show for Americans on Saturday, as the latest scalp, the 9th seed Taylor Fritz, exits the US Open in an epic collapse against Francisco Cerundolo. After losing the first two sets 6-3, 6-4 in 94 minutes, the 24th-seeded Argentine came back and won the next three sets 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. 

Cerundolo played through fatigue after already playing a four-hour battle in the previous round against Jan-Lennard Struff. He cut down on unforced errors to claw back the third set, and from there, Fritz’s biggest weapon, his serve, deserted him. His first-serve percentage collapsed to 47 percent in the fourth set, while the Argentine dropped just three points on his first serve. Fritz actually finished with more points than Cerundolo, 150-148, but still lost the match. 

He joins the list of Americans who lost on Saturday, including Amanda Anisimova, who crashed out against Anastasia Potapova, and Madison Keys, who lost to Qinwen Zheng in three sets, leading 5-0 in the third set and then losing seven straight games.

Although it capped a rough Saturday for the host nation, there are still strong contenders left on both fronts, such as 8th seed Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe on the men’s side and 4th seed Coco Gauff on the women’s side.

This defeat is another bump in an already uneven Grand Slam campaign for Taylor Fritz. The 2024 US Open runner-up had reached the quarterfinals last year before losing to Novak Djokovic. But after that, he suffered a fourth exit at the Australian Open, a shock first-round loss at the French Open, lost a quarterfinal at Wimbledon, which everyone expected him to win against Alexander Zverev, and now a third-round exit on his home turf. 

This is Fritz’s earliest US Open exit in exactly four years, and it also reshapes the draw for top seed Alexander Zverev, who could have faced Fritz, one of his nemeses on tour, in the semifinals. Cerundolo will instead attempt to reach his first US Open quarterfinal by facing the winner of the match between Flavio Cobolli and Alexander Blockx.

Cerundolo’s Marathon Effort Puts Him Level With His Best Slam Result

Francisco Cerundolo could barely believe what he did afterward. “I don’t know how I won,” he said with a chuckle.

“Taylor is a top player, he has played the final here, it’s one of the toughest matches. I knew how difficult it would be. He was playing way better than me for the first two sets, really aggressive. I wasn’t feeling comfortable at all. After I broke back in the third set I started to get into it step by step, and in the fourth and fifth sets I thought I found my really good tennis. Winning here, my first time on Ashe, it’s amazing!”

The win equals Cerundolo’s best career result at a major, having previously reached the fourth round twice at Roland Garros and once at this year’s Australian Open. It also completes only the second two-sets-down comeback of his career, and a rare one against elite opposition.

He ‌entered Saturday with just a 1-6 record against top-10 players at majors, with his lone win coming against then-No. 8 Fritz at the 2023 French Open, making Saturday the second time he has needed to topple the same opponent to break through against the game’s best.

He will not be short of company in the second week either. Cerundolo joins countryman Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the round of 16, marking the first time two Argentine men have reached the US Open fourth round together since national heroes Juan Martín del Potro and Diego Schwartzman managed it back in 2017.