Fritz beats Halys to march into Stuttgart quarters
STUTTGART, Germany: American second seed Taylor Fritz stepped up his Wimbledon preparations as he swept aside Frenchman Quentin Halys with a 6-3 7-6(6) victory to advance into the Stuttgart Open quarter-finals on Wednesday.
The world number seven banged down 12 aces and struck 32 winners in the one hour and 23 minute contest.
The 27-year-old, a twice quarter-finalist at Wimbledon, will next face Hungarian Marton Fucsovics at the ATP 250 event. Fucsovics beat France's Arthur Rinderknech 7-6(4) 6-3 to book a place in the quarters.
American third seed Ben Shelton also prevailed against Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert 7-6(4) 7-5 in 50 minutes to move into the quarters.
The 22-year-old world number 12 will next take on either Czech eighth seed Jiri Lehecka or German Jan-Lennard Struff.
"I'm really happy. Happy to get my first win here in Stuttgart," Shelton said.
"I thought I played great in the big moments today down the stretch and I'm just really happy to be back on the grass competing.
"It's a completely different game, playing on this surface and hopefully I can get better and better as this week goes."
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