INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) Taylor Fritz defeated Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia, 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-1 Friday to reach the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open for the second time in five months.
The 24-year-old American is in the midst of the best stretch of his young career, and it all began in the desert in October. That’s when the tournament was held last year, pushed out of its traditional March spot because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, Fritz came into Indian Wells ranked 39th in the world. He beat top-10 players Matteo Berrettini and Alexander Zverev before losing in the semis to Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia.
He’s now No. 20 – having reached a career-high 16th in February – and is 24-8 since last year’s tournament. He’s made the quarterfinals in five tournaments and reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in January at the Australian Open.
“Things are starting to come together,” he said. “I feel like my level as a player has gone up a ton.”
Fritz has recorded many milestones at Indian Wells, where he’s always a crowd favorite. He first began coming to the event as a kid, having grown up near San Diego as the son of former WTA Tour player Kathy May.
“I didn’t watch any matches,” said Fritz, who instead chased players for autographs, including Andy Murray and Bernard Tomic.
Fritz made his debut in a Masters 1000 main draw at Indian Wells and notched his first top-10 win here in 2017. His father, Guy Fritz, is a former ATP Tour pro who coaches the men’s tennis team at the nearby College of the Desert.
“It feels like a second home,” he said. “Just the energy is completely different.”
Fritz is the first American to reach consecutive semifinals at Indian Wells since Andy Roddick in 2009-10. The last American to win the tournament was Andre Agassi in 2001; Fritz was 3 years old at the time.
“There’s no place I’d rather have these results than here,” Fritz said.
After he and Kecmanovic split sets, Fritz dominated the third. He raced to a 5-0 lead before the Serb held. Fritz then served a love game to close out the match.
Fritz next plays No. 7 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia, who beat Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, 7-5 6-2.
Rublev has won 13 consecutive matches and is coming off back-to-back titles in Marseille and Dubai. He never trailed against Dimitrov and dropped serve just once in the 1 1/2-hour match that paired former world No 1 junior players.
Rublev has yet to drop a set in the tournament.
“I’m really motivated to be a better player,” he said. “It’s like sometimes I cannot wait to go to play next tournament, you know?”
Saturday’s other semifinal pits Rafael Nadal against 18-year-old Carlos Alcaraz in an all-Spanish matchup. Nadal is 19-0 this year.
The women’s semifinals later Friday feature Simona Halep against No. 3 Iga Swiatek and defending champion Paula Badosa against Maria Sakkari.
Fritz rising, Rublev rolling into semifinals at Indian Wells originally appeared on NBCSports.com
