By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, August 5, 2025
Photo credit: National Bank Open by Rogers Facebook
Demonstrative displays aren’t typically part of Taylor Fritz’s arsenal.
Tonight, Fritz fired the exclamation point to punctuate a declarative victory.
On match point, Fritz slammed his 20th ace completing a 6-3, 7-6(4) win over Andrey Rublev to power into his fifth semifinal of the season at the National Bank Open in Toronto.
The second-seeded Fritz posted his 20th hard-court win of the season—he’s the third man to do it—advancing to his 38th career semifinal.
Wimbledon semifinalist Fritz will face either ninth-seeded Alex de Minaur or fourth-seeded compatriot Ben Shelton for a spot in the final. Fritz, who is 5-5 vs. de Minaur and 1-0 against Shelton, is bidding for his first hard-court final since he beat de Minaur and Alexander Zverev in succession to reach the ATP Finals title match in Turin last November.
Final four bound 🔜
Taylor Fritz keeps up his impressive form as he defeats Andrey Rublev 6-4 7-6 🤝#NBO25 pic.twitter.com/attFhHJy6B
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 6, 2025
Bursting out of the blocks quickly, Fritz flew eight points in a row surging to a 3-0 lead against the 2024 Canadian Open finalist.
The 27-year-old Fritz was cracking the ball with depth off both wings, punished the Rublev two-handed backhand and even carved some timely drop shots seizing a one-set lead. Fritz served 70 percent and won 17 of 23 first-serve points in the opening set.
Locked in 🔒
Taylor Fritz means business today as he takes the opener 6-3 💪#NBO25 pic.twitter.com/Yn0ucKz9rQ
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 5, 2025
On the fast Toronto court, Fritz was nearly flawless on serve at the start of the second set. The 6’5” American tore through 16 of his first 17 service points, stamping three love holds in a row, at the start of the second set. Fritz broke for 5-4.
The second seed’s only real stumble came when he served for the semifinal at 5-4. Despite successive aces that helped him earn match point, Fritz missed his normally reliable backhand.
Rublev saved a match point then exploited a double fault and netted backhand breaking to level the second set at 5-all.
A frustrated Fritz dropped his Head racquet to the court and screamed at his box in his only show of angst of the evening.
The Rublev forehand remains one of the biggest in the game, but the Russian’s biggest weapon betrayed him early in the tiebreaker. Rublev missed two forehands in the first three points as Fritz took a 3-0 lead.
Launching a 137 mph missile down the middle, Fritz went up 5-2. Though Rublev ripped a diagonal forehand to close to 4-5 he missed a mind-numbing forehand into net to hand the American a second match point.
This time, Fritz made no mistake cracking his 20th ace of the night to seal his 20th hard-court win of the year.
