What happened this week is that Mensik has made his first Masters 1000 semifinal. A win over the fourth-ranked Fritz would be another major leap upward. Is he ready for that? His biggest advantage may be his relative freshness: He won his quarterfinal in straight sets on Thursday afternoon, while Fritz won a two hour and 45 minute thriller over Matteo Berrettini in the evening. That’s not an ideal turnaround.
Otherwise, though, Fritz would seem to have the edge for a few reasons.
First, he says he’s feeling healthier than he has in a couple of months, which has helped him swing more freely.
“I feel like I can play full out, my body can keep up with my tennis,” Fritz says. “I’ve been excited to be back on the court healthy.”
Second, after a series of poor results, he’s motivated to win in his last hard-court event for nearly four months.
“The fire is really there, this week, after just being really frustrated in a lot of tournaments recently,” he says.
