After a week filled with upsets in the bottom half of the men’s draw, Taylor Fritz, the ninth seed, was left as the highest-ranked player there besides Novak Djokovic for some time. His enduring presence in this tournament, which has yielded his first US Open quarter-final, is the culmination of another strong, consistent season as the 25-year-old has established himself among the elite.
Yet at a time when the top two players, Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, are performing at such a high level, the gulf between the second- and ninth-ranked players is immense. At no point on Tuesday afternoon did Djokovic ever look threatened in his straightforward 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 win over Fritz.
