It’s been an undeniably great week for American tennis. Jack Sock has become the first man in a decade to advance past the first round at the end of year Masters, and Americans fill the latter stage of the Champaign Challenger.
In an all American quarter-final first up Tim Smyczek continued his hot form with a 6-4, 6-4 win over top seed Tennys Sandgren. Smyczek is now 9-1 and his last 10 matches, which includes the Charlottesville title. Smyczek had dropped his serve twice against wildcard Dennis Novolo in the second round. The 29 year-old improved dramatically against Sandgren, not facing a break point in a meeting that was a rematch of the Charlottesville final of a few weeks ago, also won by Smyczek.
5th seed Bjorn Fratangelo had to deal with the strong run of the surging Filip Peliwo. The 23 year-old Canadian is in the form of his life having won his first Challenger title and climbing into the Top 200 for the first time in his career. For the second week running he downed 2nd seed Henri Laaksonen in the 2nd round. Fratangelo managed to eventually stem the tide, winning 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 in just over two hours.
4th seed Cameron Norrie ensured the semi-finals would not involve four Americans by thrashing Mackenzie McDonald. The Brit won 6-2, 6-0 saving all five break points he faced in the match.
The final match of the day sees Tommy Paul vs Taylor Fritz, guaranteeing another American semi-finalist.
