Novak Djokovic had no issues beating Taylor Fritz at the 2023 US Open, much like he had no trouble beating him in Cincinnati recently.
It wasn't long ago that we saw this matchup as they played in Cincinnati at the ATP 1000 event, and Djokovic smashed Fritz in that one. The opening set was a proper beatdown, and the same thing happened here even though Fritz had a break chance in the opening set.
The problem was erratic play that never really stopped. He tried to be aggressive and attack Djokovic, which was the right idea, but the execution was poor as he amassed 19 errors in 7 games, which was too much. Djokovic didn't play that well and struggled greatly with his serve, but he had more winners and fewer errors, which was enough.
The second set saw Fritz improve his play but so did Djokovic. The set opened with an early break for Djokovic, one that ultimately proved enough even though Fritz missed out on break chances a bit later. The American played better and better as the set went on which was important for his confidence.
Even though he didn't manage to turn around the set, by the end, Fritz looked pretty good on serve, which was the area he needed to improve. His return was decent enough as his approach was mostly to try and hit through Djokovic, which he's capable of but didn't really do well until the 3rd set.
That one saw Fritz hold his serve comfortably and attack Djokovic more efficiently, carving out two break points at 3-2. Unfortunately, he played them a bit too reserved, allowing Djokovic to save them spectacularly.
Djokovic would break to take a 4-3 lead but then get broken immediately, only for Fritz to literally gift him more break points, which sealed the win for Djokovic. The final score was 6-1 6-4 6-4 for the Serbian, who didn't play spectacularly but played well enough to win.
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