Taylor Fritz faced a successive 6 foot 8 opponent in the form of Canadian Gabriel Diallo, who reached a career–high ranking of 40 a few days ago, after jostling for a second round spot over two days with lethal server Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.
Both were deceptively mobile in their rallies against the 27-year-old American.
Diallo proved a tricky customer in the second round and posed a significant threat to Fritz’s quest to end the American Grand Slam drought among the men, since Andy Roddick was the last to win a major in 2003.
Two breaks were executed by Diallo, which eventually granted him two set points to pounce upon. After 31 minutes, Fritz had yet again dropped the opening set, this time 6-3 at SW19.
Diallo displayed impressive variety on his serves from the outset combined with good shot selection to establish unpredictability and try to force his opponent to deviate from his favoured style on grass.
He remained composed against one of the top seeds as Fritz’s capability to perform following a challenging turnaround was put into question.
Albeit his debut in the main draw at Wimbledon, Diallo did become the first Canadian man to win a grass court title since 1993, as per ATP tour, at s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands in June.
Fritz and Diallo proceeded to fly through their service games, holding their serves and limiting the number of rallies the returner could start.
There were glimpses of high quality returning from Fritz when Perricard fired the ball towards him, but Fritz, alongside his opponent on Wednesday, struggled to turn these flickers of quality into meaningful consistency on return.
At 4-3, both players had only lost two points on serve, which demonstrated how they were racing through the games and aces were racking up rapidly.
However, in the 8th game of the second set, the trading of service games stalled when Fritz secured a break point as Diallo decided that the American’s passing forehand shot was going long and paid the price by not intervening.
Fritz wrapped up the set with an ace with just shy of an hour played, which was more than half an hour shorter than his win in two sets in the final at Eastbourne on Saturday, when he defeated compatriot Jenson Brooksby.
Lapses of concentration from Diallo were ultimately costly when Fritz sensed he could raise his aggression in the rallies and utilise his experience to unsettle the newcomer.
An inch-perfect serve and volley, which Diallo garnered considerable success from and deployed more than Fritz, quickly turned the tide as the Canadian followed this with a few deft touches at the net to hold serve in the third set’s opening game.
In the fifth game, Fritz momentarily disrupted the string of unchallenged service games when he forced deuce.
However, he became visibly frustrated with some returns, reluctant to take a step back from the baseline with his position, and Diallo’s threatening serve sealed another hold for 3-2.
Diallo continued to outwit Fritz in close quarters exchanges at the net while Fritz’s serves began to prevail, and the third set would conclude with a tie break.
An exquisite return past an onrushing Diallo fashioned the first point. Meanwhile, Fritz traded ground strokes and stuck to his strengths by remaining in rallies, maneuvering along the baseline.
Diallo was beginning to buckle at the decisive moment as he had a 4-0 deficit to claw back. A tidy serve and a powerful forehand secured a faultless tie break for Fritz to snatch the set.
After cruising through Daniel Altmaier in the first round in straight-sets, Diallo arguably had more gas in the tank for five sets, yet Fritz had been conditioned with durability through matches across his recent grass court successes.
Due to the roof needing to be closed, a 12-minute break elapsed before the players could return to court number one for the fourth set.
Diallo used the time to speak to his coaches and surely reflect on Fritz's 95% conversion of points behind his first serve and just 2 unforced errors in the third set.
The pause in play turned out to be 18 minutes from the last point, but it did little to derail Diallo’s progress any further.
He came sprinting out of the blocks, confidently executing his first service game.
Finally, he managed to match Fritz’s ominous ground strokes by hitting winners with fresh impetus and urgency. Diallo attacked the second serve of Fritz more frequently and broke his serve to make it 2-1.
In the fourth game, a marathon game then bucked the trend of this contest as the players battled hard through 8 deuces and the pendulum swung back and forth.
A Diallo ace ended Fritz’s hopes of an early break, but last year’s Wimbledon quarter-finalist acrobatically adjusted his body with ingenuity to prevent a passing shot which was destined for the target. He went on to hold his serve with two aces.
Another opportunity passed against the serve when Fritz had two break points, which slipped away as he replicated his diving shot, this time receiving treatment for a cut on his elbow sustained from the fall on the grass.
Diallo lost all of his advantage points in 5 deuces including a scintillating forehand pass from Fritz, but he recognised how he had relished coming to the net and did so again to catch Fritz out.
Both players then served to love and Diallo found himself serving for the fourth set, and forced a decider.
Heading into the fifth set, Fritz held his serve to love for the 8th time at 2-1 while a typical ground stroke rally ensured he could pile on the pressure and break Diallo at 4-2.
Fritz was stepping up in the big moment, and used more than 10 years of experience on tour to guide him to victory just before the 11pm curfew.
He will next face Spanish 26th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the Third Round.
Davidovich Fokina has the edge over Fritz in their head-to-head record, although Fritz did recently beat the Spanish 26th seed in the Eastbourne Semi-Final.
Five of the top 10 seeded players have been knocked out in the men’s Wimbledon so far, and Fritz will be hunting down a commendable finish at SW19 given his record on grass compared to so many.
Following another gruelling five sets, in his post-match interview on court he said, "That was an incredibly hard match. In the fourth set that I lost, I really don’t think there’s much that I did wrong at all. Really happy to get through that, a really tough match."
He added, "I think I’ve played plenty of tennis. I’m due a nice relaxing day."
