It’s rare to see Taylor Fritz lose his cool during a match, and even rarer to see him take that frustration out on his equipment. But much like what happened at last year’s Canadian Open, the American’s calm exterior cracked again in Cincinnati. Just four minutes into the match, Fritz smashed his racket to pieces in frustration.

It wasn’t exactly the start he had hoped for. Fritz was broken in his opening service game, and instead of simply brushing it off, he let his emotions take over. After dismantling the racket, the American later made it clear why he felt the need to vent his frustration that early in the match.

“Tough, tough match, especially come out and just play such a bad first game to get broken. Like, it’s never easy to start a match like that,” said Fritz in his on-court interview.

“I didn’t make—I mean, if I can’t serve what I, you know, my serve is what I do as good as anyone. I come out first, first game on the side with the wind helping me, the side that I should definitely be holding serve on. It’s just like, yeah, that got me really frustrated. And sometimes you just got to snap it. And it helped me just get over it. You know, I feel like if I tried to keep it in there, might not have turned it around so quick.”

Being rusty at the beginning of the match is quite understandable, but Fritz struggled with his serve in his first service game against Alex Michelsen. The American could land only one first serve and made a double fault as well, which gave his younger compatriot a crucial opening in the early stages of the match. While Fritz saved one break point, Michelsen converted the second.

One might argue that smashing one’s racket after the first game is not advisable, but the move worked for Fritz. He broke back immediately, and a second service break helped him get a 4-1 lead, enabling him to win the first set 6-3.

However, Fritz did not let up in the second set, getting an early break, which was enough for the sixth seed to serve out the second set. Fritz was not broken again for the rest of the match.

Having made a great start to the hard-court swing with a title in Washington, Fritz had a dip in Montreal, losing to Thiago Agustin Tirante in the opening match. It seems last year’s Canadian Open frustration has followed Taylor Fritz into this season too.

In 2025, after losing 6-4, 6-3 to Ben Shelton in the semifinals, Fritz’s frustration boiled over following a double fault, with the American smashing his racket against his leg and leaving it in pieces as Shelton calmly booked his place in the final.

Perhaps the unraveling had started even before the match. As Fritz and Shelton stepped onto Centre Court for their semifinal, they were abruptly sent back off because of a malfunction with the electronic line-calling system (ELC). A year later, after another early exit in Canada, Fritz arrived in Cincinnati hoping to put those frustrations behind him and make a deeper run.

Taylor Fritz gets back in form after early season struggles

Having beaten Michelsen, Fritz will now take on Daniel Merida in the third round of the Cincinnati Open. The Spaniard came back from a set down to defeat former US Open champion Marin Čilić in the first round before beating Zizou Bergs in straight sets in the second.

Fritz, on the other hand, had a poor start to the season, as the American struggled with his knee injury, curtailing his clay season. However, the grass-court season saw the American reach successive finals in Stuttgart and Halle and reach a quarterfinal at Wimbledon, which helped him start strong on the hard courts in Washington.

Going into the US Open in a few weeks, Fritz will aim to have a decent run in Cincinnati to get his match rhythm before going to New York.

However, it will not be an easy task for the home favorite, who could face the likes of Joao Fonseca and Daniil Medvedev in his section of the draw, should he win the third-round match against Merida.