Taylor Fritz was up against a monster who was on a 13-match winning streak, world No. 1, and most importantly, a 0-3 head-to-head record when he was drawn against Carlos Alcaraz in the Laver Cup. Considering how Alcaraz has always dominated against Fritz, the odds were not in the American’s favor. But unlike Alcaraz, Fritz came too prepared to end the Spaniard’s streak on Saturday night to flip the script.

Contrary to expectations before the match, Fritz flipped the script. In just an hour and 11 minutes, he topped Alcaraz with a dominating scoreline of 6-3, 6-2. Fritz was ruthless throughout the match, hitting 17 winners and five aces. He also won 16 of his 20 net points. So, what did Tfrizzle do differently this time to overcome his biggest nightmare?

Revealing his key to success against the two-time US Open champion, Taylor began, “Three times I have played Carlos, he has broken me every single time. So that’s not how you want to start against someone like him. So, getting out of that first game was huge and then just playing a lot of big points with conviction.” With a statement win, he proved his mettle. Underlining his determination this time to outperform Alcaraz, he added, “I didn’t second-guess myself, I didn’t play too safe, I played with no fear on a lot of the big points.”

Notably, the 27-year-old is only the second player this season, after the Italian Open, to have defeated Carlos Alcaraz in a match. The other one is, of course, Jannik Sinner, who bested him in the Wimbledon final over two months ago. Trying to control his emotions after the victory, Fritz further mentioned, “It’s such an amazing moment.”

However, it seems it wasn’t the result that excited him the most, but how he played this time against the Spaniard. “It’s the level. It’s taking advantage of those big moments, pulling the trigger, just going out and taking it. I’m hoping this can be a sign of things to come.” He concluded, “I think I take almost more pride in this one because I feel like, start to finish, I won it, I earned it.” Mind you, Taylor Fritz is his own critic, during and after matches.

The point regarding his intensity and style of play against Carlos Alcaraz becomes evident from the stats. Although it was the World No.1 who landed 70 percent of his first serves inside, he only won 63 percent of points. On the other hand, Fritz’s first serve accuracy was only 59 percent, but he won 80 percent of points from it. Alcaraz had 19 winners and just one double fault. On the contrary, the American scored two fewer winners while having more double faults (4) than the Spaniard. Yet, his spirit to win powered him and Team World to a remarkable triumph, eventually.

Taylor Fritz achieves a rare milestone with a win against Carlos Alcaraz

Following his emphatic performance inside the Chase Centre on Saturday night, Taylor Fritz achieved a new distinction. He has become only the third American player to beat the world No. 1 at a team event since the ATP rankings were introduced more than 50 years ago.

Before him, the players who accomplished a similar feat are Andre Agassi (Fritz’s and Team World’s Captain at Laver Cup) and John Isner. Back in 1992, Agassi beat Stefan Edberg at the Davis Cup, while Isner bested 22-time slam king Rafael Nadal during the inaugural Laver Cup in 2017, according to OptaAce.

Diving more into Fritz’s win, even his rival and six-time slam champion Alcaraz had to admit that the American was better than him. “I think he played some great tennis. I feel like he was more on the court than me. The first or second shot of the rally was really important, and he did it much better than I did. That was the key. In these (slow) conditions, the first shots are really important.”

After the 27-year-old’s triumph, Team World also witnessed another victorious moment. In the doubles encounter, the pair of Alex de Minaur and Alex Michelsen beat Holger Rune and Casper Ruud. With that, the blue army registered a clean sweep with four-straight wins on Day 2. They are now leading Team Europe 9-3 in points.

Do you think the Red Warriors will continue their dominant run on the third and last day of the Laver Cup and reclaim the coveted trophy after two years? Let us know in the comments below.