Fritz saved two break points at 4-4 in the opening set and held off the Frenchman in the second set when he was two points from forcing a decider. Atmane won three more total points and produced 29 winners to Fritz’s 26 in defeat.
“Definitely happy with how I played, but I wouldn’t necessarily say I felt like I had everything under control, because he was serving big and firing off a lot of winners. There was a lot of points where I feel like I didn’t do anything wrong, but I was still losing,” said Fritz, who now faces another qualifier in Yosuke Watanuki.
Frances Tiafoe and Marcos Giron also moved through. Tiafoe dispatched Zhou Yi, 6-2, 6-4, converting three of his four break point chances. The No. 13 seed faces Roman Safiullin for a spot in the round of 16 after the Russian knocked out 23rd seed Alexander Bublik, 6-4, 6-2.
“I think he’s a super dark horse. He can beat a lot of guys,” said Tiafoe about his next opponent. “Obviously he’s had an up-and-down season, but he’s very, very capable.”
