Dressed for success, Fritz advances at Wimbledon

LONDON -- A well-dressed Taylor Fritz impressed again, beating compatriot Patrick Kypson 6-2, 6-2, 7-5 to reach the third round at Wimbledon on Thursday. Fritz's white blazer and NBA-style warmup pants for his walk-on at No. 2 Court drew attention but his play wasn't bad either - he fired 19 aces and avoided getting pushed into a fourth set. The sixth-seeded American, a semifinalist last year, emphatically pumped his right fist when he broke Kypson to convert his fourth match point. Fritz also won his opener in straight sets and had worn a similar outfit with tear-away warmup pants - designed to easily unbutton as you pull them off in one tug. "I took it off slowly in the first round. I kind of actually made a mess of it," Fritz said in his press conference. "It's actually just a lot easier to just rip them off. I saw a video of Frances (Tiafoe) doing it. I was just trying to copy him today." Later, an equally dapper Tiafoe showed how it's done - earning applause for quickly pulling off the bottoms before his match against Jan Choinski. The 17th-seeded Tiafoe won 4-6, 6-2, 7-5, 6-2. "I had a lot of momentum from the end of the third," the American said in his on-court interview. "I just wanted to try to get an early break and take his soul a little bit, take his belief away, and that's kind of what happened." Also Thursday, both second-seeded Alexander Zverev and fifth-seeded Alex de Minaur recorded straight-set victories. Matteo Berrettini, who lost the 2021 Wimbledon final to Novak Djokovic, beat 20th-seeded Arthur Fils 6-4, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 on Centre Court. Berrettini will next face wild-card entry Grigor Dimitrov, who eliminated 15th-seeded Jakub Mensik 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. Last year, Dimitrov was leading his fourth-round match against eventual champion Jannik Sinner but stopped playing because of an injured pectoral muscle.