Fritz fights to reach quarters

Taylor Fritz battled into yesterday morning before finally getting past Czech Jiri Lehecka with a 7-6 (7/4), 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/5) victory in three hours to reach the quarterfinals of the ATP Toronto Masters.

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The US second seed finished off a complete matched set of Masters 1000 quarterfinals as the last piece of the puzzle fell into place in Canada.

The late-night marathon lasted 39 games without a break of serve, with 15 aggregate break points going begging.

Fritz delivered two aces in the final-set tiebreaker on his way to the narrow win, moving into the last eight as Lehecka drove long.

"Making all the Masters quarters is really cool," Fritz said. "It shows consistency.

"Today I had to accept that parts of my game were just not there. I was bailed out by a lot of first serves, but I was making too many mistakes."

Fellow American Ben Shelton earned a second chance after Flavio Cobillo failed to serve out their match, with the fourth seed finally securing a somewhat contentious 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7/1) win.

The pair had words after the match, which Shelton characterised as nothing serious.

"[In the tiebreaker] he made a gesture [he said] it was not directed at me so we are cool," Shelton said.