“[Reaching the US Open final has] given me a lot of confidence in those moments and situations, just having been there, that I can do it again.
“I feel like other years that I was in the quarterfinals here specifically, it felt like a really big deal for me.
“Going into the match today, I was much more calm and relaxed. It didn’t feel like that, just having the experience of making some deep runs in some Slams over the last couple of years.”
Fritz’s match-up with 17th seed Khachanov marked his sixth Grand Slam quarterfinal – half of which have come at SW19.
In 2022 he was unable to overcome Rafael Nadal, who defied an abdominal injury and prevailed in five sets before withdrawing from the tournament. Last year Fritz also made it to a fifth set, before falling to Lorenzo Musetti.
He very nearly didn’t make it to the same point this year, given the perilous position he was in against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in round one.
The towering Frenchman, a monstrous server, led by two sets to love, and by 5-1 in the fourth-set tiebreak, before Fritz staged an incredible comeback.
He’s been building momentum ever since.