Taylor Fritz stroms past compatriot Darwin ‌Blanch to cruise to opening round win

[p]A finalist in ‌2024, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/fritz-taylor/UH09iaZ6/"]Fritz[/a] looked right at home [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/blanch-dar-67fP0sJ3/fritz-t-UH09iaZ6/?mid=dKS1mhgS"]in New ‌York against the 18-year-old wildcard[/a], hitting 14 aces to set up ‌a meeting with either [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bellucci-mattia/M9pojLqi/"]Mattia Bellucci[/a] of Italy or Hungarian [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/piros-zsombor/2BC3jj8o/"]Zsombor Piros[/a].[/p][p][b]"It's never easy to come out ‌and play another young American," [/b]said ⁠Fritz, who had ‌a withering appraisal of his own return game.[/p][p]"He gave me ​a lot of opportunities with some doubles, with some second serves."[/p][embed guid="0373d516-a9ce-474e-99c5-d748ed6f78aa" url="https://x.com/usopen/status/2094871760361464087" social-type="twitter" /][p]Fritz had a ​mixed run-up to New York, winning in D.C. before losing his Montreal opener, but he had ⁠no issues ​on Tuesday, as he dropped only one first-serve point in the opening set and got the break in the sixth game.[/p][p]He wore down [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/blanch-darwin/67fP0sJ3/"]Blanch[/a]'s defences in ‌the second set, converting on his fourth break point in the fifth game and again in the seventh, as costly errors began to pile up for the teenager on his Flushing Meadows debut.[/p][p]Blanch let another shot go past the baseline on break point in the opening game of the third set and Fritz slammed ‌his foot on the gas from there, ​extinguishing the only two break points he faced ‌in the second game with an ace and a punishing backhand.[/p][p]He sealed it with an unreturnable serve, giving the home fans more reason to cheer after compatriots [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/tiafoe-frances/AHDLJaph/"]Frances Tiafoe[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/shelton-ben/QNuG0Gzb/"]⁠Ben Shelton[/a] both ⁠won during Monday's night ‌session.[/p]