Taylor Fritz refused to be self-critical after he lost to Gael Monfils at the Australian Open. (Full Coverage | More Tennis News)
Fritz,ꦚ last year's US Open runner-up, was downed 3-6 7-5 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 by Monfils at Margare🥃t Court Arena on Saturday.
The world number four's exit means five of the top 10 men's seeds have now been knock♕ed out of ꦜthe season's first major.
Fritz had not dropped a set on the way to the third round, losing only eight games, yet 38-year-old Monfils turned in a sensational performance to re꧒ach the last 16.
And Fritz did not believe ��he needed🎃 to be too harsh on himself.
"It sucks to go out in the third round. The way it happened, I'm probably not going𒉰 to lose too much sleep over, as someone who is hypercritical of themselves normally," he said.
"It's just a really good match from him.
"He served incredibly, mix🌄ed up his spots really well. I never could get a read on where he was going to serve.
"When he didn't mak𝓡e🌼 his first serve, he was serving huge second serve sliders. Even if I knew where it was going, it was really hard to return.
"He was returning my serve really well even when I was mixing it up hitting spots while he was still returning it well.&nbs♛p;
"I couldn't hurt him enough. I felt like I wasn't getting him out of position at all. It seꦅemed almost too easy for him to hurt me for how much I was struggling to hurt him. He played really, really well. Not too much I could do."
Asked by 💮Stats Perform if his performances in the opening two rounds were a positive foundation to build on, Fritz replied: "I'm going to have to play very well if I want to win a major title, [but] I'm playing very good tennis.
"That's why I said I'm not going to let this one get to me too much because I feel like tꦫhe way I'm playing, the way I played today, I would expect myself to win against a lot of people."
Monfils will next face another American, Ben Shelton, who o🥀vercame Lorenzo Musetti 6-3 3-6 6-4 7-6 (7-5).
And while Fritz is out, the United States also have teenagers Alex ജMichelsen and Learner Tieꦉn into the fourth round, after their dream runs continued with a straight-sets defeat of Karen Khachanov.
"Yes and no," said Michelsen when asked if he felt he was ahead of schedule💦 in his development.
"Just because a couple of years ago, I never thought I'd be a pro. But at the same time, I feel like I've💙 put in so much work the last three, four years. I've been grinding every single day.
"I𒐪'm super, super happy with the progress I've made, but I know how hard I've worked to go ah🎃ead here."
Aged 19 years and 47 days, Tie💫n is the youngest player since Rafael Nadal in 2005 to reach the fourth round of the men's singles at the Australian Open.
While Tieꦫn will face Lorenzo Sonego in round four, Michelsen will take on home hope Alex de Minaur, who became the first Australian man to make the fourth round in six 🐼consecutive majors since Lleyton Hewitt did so between the US Open in 2003 and the Australian Open in 2005.
