There were high hopes for some American showdowns this weekend down in Dallas, Texas. However, parties were stalled when top tanked Americans Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton, and Frances Tiafoe all came up short in their second-round matches on Thursday. 

As a credentialed media member of the newly upgraded ATP 500 event, I was able to see a lot of the action up close, and there’s one thing that always rings true when you watch tennis. You think you have an idea of the pace and rhythm of a match on television, but up close in person offers a different angle.

Taylor Fritz

Word No. 4 Taylor Fritz opened up his Dallas Open campaign with an emphatic win over Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech, and most things about his game looked solid. There was a cause for concern, though, when he revealed he has been nursing a possible oblique tear from tennis balls he played with in Australia that were not to his liking.

In his very next match, things looked like they would be heading in a similarly comfortable direction to his first round, but his opponent Denis Shapovalov, a familiar foe, came out firing in the second set and raced out to a three-game love lead. In watching Fritz from the sidelines, there’s something very metronomic about Fritz’s groundstroke game.

He’s able to repeat the same trajectory and pace of shot repeatedly from the baseline, and the consistent barrage of strokes plus a speedy serve makes him a difficult player to deal with. However, there is a level of tolerance and anticipation that his opponents are able to build throughout the course of a match because of the lack of variance.

A player like Shapovalov is likely well aware of that, and with his sweeping and stylish strokes, It’s only a matter of time before the flash becomes seriously formidable. That’s exactly what happened, as Shapovalov was able to live with Fritz much more as the match went on.

Before it was all said and done, Fritz found himself in a final set tiebreaker and being at the mercy of the free-flowing and confident Canadians game. Fritz only won two points in the tiebreak and gave Shapovalov his first top-10 win since 2022, which coincidentally came against a then No.10 ranked Fritz in Vienna. 

Frances Tiafoe

Unfortunately, getting back on United States soil wasn’t the thing that changed the tide of Frances Tiafoe’s last several months. The top 20 American fan-favorite has yet to win back-to-back matches since leaving the US Open in September 2024.

For a moment, it seemed as if his fortunes would be shifting, but as soon as 29-year Japan lefty Yoshihito Nishioka broke serve early in the third set, the wind in his sails seemed to dissipate. Tiafoe didn’t seem largely interested in digging into the match even though the afternoon crowd in Dallas was trying to will him into position.

That would follow a theme to the last few seasons in Tiafoe’s career with subpar performances or missed opportunities that mar the first half of the season until he seemingly reignites just in time for the U.S Summer Hard Court swing.

If there was a way to bottle up whatever motivation and clarity that comes over Tiafoe under the lights in New York City, I’m sure he would take it and try to spread it around the tour calendar. However, his tennis seems stuck in a cycle of fits and starts, and the only times things seem to align are when it’s time to head over to the Big Apple.

Ben Shelton

Right off the back of making his second career grand slam semifinal, fans in Dallas were eager to rally around Ben Shelton and see him make another fun run through the tournament. The fun was short-lived, though, because Shelton faltered at the second hurdle.

His opponent, Jaume Munar, has been riding a wave of confidence after reaching the semifinals in Hong Kong and narrowly defeating World No. 6 Casper Ruud in the first round. The game the 27-year-old Spaniard brings to the court is the exact style that can wreak havoc against a big hitter on a bad day.

That was largely the case against Shelton, as the young American flooded the court with errors and showed visible frustration with his shot selection. In Shelton’s short but successful career, the opportunities for improvement have lied in his efficiency from the ground game and in playing smarter shots in tight situations.

He’s dangerously close to the world’s top 10 and if continues to focus on those areas, he will continue to be a prospect that opponents have a tough time handling. Tennis fans can follow Sports Illustrated’s Serve on SI for all the most important news from the sport.