Taylor Fritz left searching for answers after stunning US Open collapse

Taylor Fritz left searching for answers after stunning US Open collapse

Taylor Fritz admitted he needs time away from tennis to process a devastating US Open defeat after surrendering a two-set lead against Francisco Cerundolo.

American Fritz appeared to be in complete control after he took a two set lead and then went a break up in the third, but the match unravelled as Cerundolo roared back to win 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

Fritz was crestfallen after the match and his angish was impossible to hide as he was asked to sum up his emotions.

"I don't even know what to say," Fritz said. "I don't really want to talk to anybody, see anybody.

"I kinda just need to get out for a couple days and then get back to work. I don't know how I let that happen today."

Fritz suggested he was not feeling comfortable even after taking a two set lead, as he fended off a string of break points before Cerudolo finally made his pressure pay.

"I was lucky to get through the first and the second sets because he wasn't serving great and made some mistakes," said Fritz.

"I just needed to serve a bit better and he played a great game to break me in the third. He's a very good returning, but he is a very good returning and he was punishing more than an average player would.

"He got better from the baseline. He started playing more agressive and made less mistakes and that made it tough.

"In the fourth and the fifth, he served incredible. My level from the baseline just decline a little and it got a little tougher to play those pressure moments."

This is a defeat that will sting for Fritz, with expectations rising around him after he won his first two matches in emphatic fashion.

The scale of his demise will leave a lingering sense of regret for the American, with Cerundolo hinting he needed to lift his levels after being outplayed in the early exchanges.

"He was playing way better than me the first two sets," stated Cerundolo.

"I started getting into ?it step by step and I think fourth and fifth I played really good tennis. I wasn't finding that tennis in the previous sets,

America has waited a long time to crown a homegrown champion at the US Open and Fritz was being tipped to be the player who could end a wait that stretches back to Andy Roddick's victory back in 2003.

Setbacks like this in the tournament that means more to Fritz than any other will sting and it will fuel his own doubts over whether he can get over the winning line in a Grand Slam.

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