British number one Norrie had been struggling recently, with a three-game losing streak in high-level tournaments. He lost his opening matches in both Beijing and Shanghai in the past few weeks. Norrie and Fritz had a head-to-head record of six wins each from their previous 12 contests. Norrie had won their most recent clash at this year's United Cup.
In their match, despite Fritz missing four break point opportunities early on, Norrie managed to break in the fifth game and held to 30, taking the lead. However, Fritz, the defending champion, demonstrated his prowess by winning four consecutive games to snatch the first set. Fritz's impressive first-set fightback was powered by seven aces and an 86% first-serve win rate.
He dominated the opening three games of the second set, breaking Norrie to love in the second game. Despite Norrie landing more first serves, he couldn't make any progress against Fritz's serve and couldn't create any opportunities to break back. Fritz sealed the match with back-to-back aces, and they were only on the court for 80 minutes before Fritz advanced to the next round.
On the other hand, Draper and Australian fourth seed De Minaur engaged in a grueling three-hour battle. Draper had participated in a couple of Challenger events in France to prepare for the Japan Open, and he had not dropped a set in two qualifying victories. He sought revenge against De Minaur following his Wimbledon second-round exit to the Australian in 2022.
Draper seemed on the path to redemption, capitalizing on De Minaur's double fault to take the first set. He also broke De Minaur's serve in the second set. However, the fourth seed rallied to win four consecutive games, and while Draper managed to level the contest at 4-4, he couldn't recover from a poor start to the tie-breaker.
The decider was closely contested, with Draper breaking in the ninth game, seemingly putting him on the path to victory. However, De Minaur immediately broke back while Draper was serving for the match. In the tie-breaker, as in the second set, Draper was outplayed, and De Minaur sealed the victory with his ninth ace of the afternoon, advancing to the last 16.
