TORONTO — Taylor Fritz blasted his way to the National Bank Open semifinal.
The hard-serving No. 2 seed from the United States topped No. 6 Andrey Rublev of Russia 6-3, 7-6 (4) on Tuesday at Sobeys Stadium.
Fritz, who finished with 20 aces, will next face the winner of the late quarterfinal between No. 4 Ben Shelton of the U.S. and No. 9 Alex de Minaur of Australia.
Wednesday's other semifinal will see top-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany — the 2017 tournament winner in Montreal — take on No. 11 Karen Khachanov of Russia.
The title showdown for the Canadian men's tennis championship goes Thursday on the campus of York University in northwest Toronto.
Fritz came out firing in hazy and breezy conditions on Centre Court with three aces to win the first game. He then broke Rublev in securing the match's first eight points.
The 27-year-old, who sits fourth in the ATP Tour rankings and lost last year's U.S. Open final to world No. 1 Jannik Sinner, fired two more aces to go up 4-1 before serving out the set.
Looking for his 11th ATP Tour victory — and second Masters 1000 crown — Fritz broke Rublev with the second set tied 4-4, but the Russian returned the favour to stay alive in the next game.
Fritz, however, wouldn't be denied in the tiebreak, and hammered his 20th ace to close out the match.
The Santa Fe, Calif., product lost in the Wimbledon semis to world No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz, who along with a host of top players including Sinner, No. 5 Jack Draper and No. 6 Novak Djokovic all skipped the event expanded to two weeks in 2025.
Fritz has two tournament wins on grass in 2025 and twice previously fell in the NBO round of 16 before this summer's run. He also fell to Sinner in last year's U.S. Open final.
Rublev came to Toronto ranked No. 11 overall after losing in last year's final to Australia's Alexei Popyrin. The 27-year-old from Moscow made the fourth round of both Wimbledon and the French Open. Popyrin lost to Zverev in the quarters on Monday night.
Fritz improved to 6-4 in his career against Rublev, who took their last meeting on clay in the Madrid semifinals some 15 months ago.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 5, 2025.
Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press
