Japanese wild card Shintaro Mochizuki repeatedly rallied for a thrilling knockout of No. 1 seed Taylor Fritz on Thursday at the Japan Open in Tokyo.
The 20-year-old took a goose egg in the first set and trailed 2-5 in the third before completing an unlikely 0-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2) victory in just over two hours for his first career top-10 win.
Mochizuki will look to continue his dream run on home soil in the quarterfinals against Australia’s Alexei Popyrin, who outlasted Chile’s Cristian Garin 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2 in the Round of 16.
Fourth-seeded Alex de Minaur only faced one break point in a 6-0, 7-5 win against Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman. He will face Russia’s Aslan Karatsev, a 6-3, 6-4 winner over China’s Zhang Zhizhen.
–Field Level Media
