American Taylor Fritz projected to break into Top 10 after reaching Tokyo final

American Taylor Fritz is projected to break into the Top 10 of the ATP rankings for the first time in his career on Monday, after reaching the final in Tokyo today.

Fritz defeated Canada’s Denis Shapovalov in the semifinals of the ATP 500 event, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3, and will now move up from his current ranking of No. 11 to at least No. 10—he could move as high as No. 8 depending on how he does in the final, as well as how the results of the other ATP 500 event this week in Astana, Kazakhstan play out.

Shapovalov had actually beaten Fritz in four of their five previous meetings, and this one could have gone either way. Fritz originally led by a set and a break at 6-3, 3-2, but Shapovalov broke right back in the next game, snuck out the second set in a tie-break and built a 3-1 lead in the third—but Fritz bounced right back, reeling off the last five games in a row to close out the Canadian after two hours and 14 minutes.

Fritz sealed his spot in the final—and the Top 10—with his sixth ace of the match.

Afterwards, he was asked what it meant to crack the Top 10.

“It means so much,” he said. “Top 10 is always one of those goals you have as a kid. Growing up, it’s a massive milestone. Obviously I want more, I want to go even higher, but, I mean, Top 10 is just a huge achievement that you always dream of.

“And no one can ever take it away from me, I was a Top 10 player.”

Fritz is now a win away from the second-biggest title of his career, his biggest coming at Indian Wells—a Masters 1000—earlier this year. He has three career ATP titles overall, having won the ATP 250 grass-court event in Eastbourne twice (2019, 2022).

Awaiting Fritz in the final will be fellow American Frances Tiafoe, who rebounded from a second set blow-out to defeat South Korea’s Kwon Soonwoo, 6-2, 0-6, 6-4.

“First set is how I’ve been playing, playing really well, I was on the ball,” Tiafoe said after the match. “A little bit of a loose game to get broken early in that second set, but he started picking up his level, and after that he was playing really well.”

Kwon ended up winning seven games in a row mid-match, bageling Tiafoe in the second set and holding for 1-0 in the third, and he actually had a break point for 2-0—but Tiafoe fought it off with an ace and eventually held for 1-1.

After Kwon held for 2-1 in the third, Tiafoe won four games in a row to lead 5-2.

“I had a good hold at 1-0 there, and then I kind of front-ran,” the American said. “Played a bad game at 5-2, but served it out well at 5-4. So it was a weird match, but happy to get through. These are the kinds of matches—it’s not always gonna be pretty, it’s not always gonna be your best stuff, but winning’s what matters.”

Tiafoe’s only previous career ATP title came at the ATP 250 event in Delray Beach back in 2018. This will be the equal-biggest final of his career—he made another ATP 500 final in Vienna last fall, finishing runner-up to Alexander Zverev.

“I really want to win a title,” the No. 19-ranked American said.

“I wanna slap 500 points on there. That would be nice.”

The final between Fritz and Tiafoe will be the biggest all-American men's final since Sam Querrey beat John Isner in the final of Memphis in 2010, also an ATP 500 event.

Fritz leads the head-to-head, 4-1, losing their first meeting at Indian Wells in 2016 but winning their last four meetings in a row, including a pair of victories this year at the Australian Open in January and at the Masters 1000 in Canada in the summer.