Taylor Fritz’s otherwise strong season had hit a bit of a rough patch in recent weeks with first-round defeats in Geneva and at the French Open, but with the start of the grass-court season, the American is back on top form – at least as far as the results are concerned. Following his run to the final in Stuttgart (where he lost to Ben Shelton), the 28-year-old world number nine has reached the last 16 for the first time at the 33rd TERRA WORTMANN OPEN. However, his match against Belgian Zizou Bergs (ATP 48) was a very close affair. After 2 hours and 13 minutes, the score stood at 7–6, 5–7 and 6–4 in favour of the American.
Fritz got off to the worst possible start. He lost his first service game to love in the first set, but immediately broke back. Bergs played boldly on the front foot, but initially went unrewarded for his attacking spirit. The first set went to Fritz in a tie-break (7–4). However, the 27-year-old Bergs stayed in the game, scoring consistently with his strong forehand in particular. The Belgian, who is coached by Jan de Witt at the Haller Breakpoint Base, took the second set 7–5.
The match was to be decided in the third set. With the score at 2–2, Bergs lost his serve. Particularly frustrating from his point of view: it was a double fault. Fritz then held his service games comfortably and, with an ace, secured his first-ever match victory at the TERRA WORTMANN OPEN. In 2016 and 2019, he had been knocked out in the first round on both occasions.
If you look solely at match results, Taylor Fritz is the most successful grass-court player of this decade, with 40 wins to his name. He won in Stuttgart in 2025, and in Eastbourne he has even won four times (2019, 2022, 2024, 2025). Let’s see how many more victories follow this grass-court season. “I just have to take it one match at a time, but I feel I can play at a pretty high level here,” said Taylor Fritz.
