Wild card Shintaro Mochizuki shocks top seed Fritz in dream Japan Open run – ‘I don’t know what’s happening right now’

Japanese wild card Shintaro Mochizuki eliminated top seed Taylor Fritz from the Japan Open on Thursday in a seismic upset.

The 215th-ranked player overcame world No. 10 Fritz 0-6 6-4 7-6(2) on home soil in Tokyo to reach the quarter-final.

Fritz stormed through the opening set without reply from Mochizuki as the American looked sure to book his spot in the last eight, but the 20-year-old battled back immensely to become the second Japanese player to beat an opponent in the top 10 this year, after Taro Daniel overcame Casper Ruud at the Mexico Open in March.

“I don’t really know what is happening right now,” Mochizuki said in disbelief, following his second win in Tokyo. “I lost the first set so easy, so quick.

“Everyone knows he is a great player but I kept fighting and that is all I could do. I am so happy. I don’t know how, but I won the match.

“I was a bit nervous at the start, not swinging. I was scared to miss. Then I tried to forget about everything and just started playing my game from the second set and that is how it went.”

After Fritz powered through the opener, Mochizuki redeemed himself with a convincing showing in the second set to force a decider.

The wild card fell 2-5 behind in the third set as Fritz closed in on back-to-back wins after defeating Cameron Norrie in the first round, but Mochizuki then broke the American’s serve to love.

Momentum swung into the home player’s favour and he used the crowd’s support to force a tiebreak, where he quickly gained a three-point lead.

Mochizuki sealed the win with his first match point after a riveting two-hour encounter and will take on Alexei Popyrin in the next round.

The defeat is a blow to Fritz, who is currently ninth in the ATP Live Race To Turin, one spot behind the top eight qualifying places.

He sits 145 points behind the final qualifying spot – currently occupied by Holger Rune – and will fall further down the pecking order if Alex de Minaur (13th) and Tommy Paul (12th) produce title runs in Tokyo.

De Minaur continued his title bid with a 6-0 7-5 win over Diego Schwartzman on Thursday and became the first Australian since Lleyton Hewitt in 2004 to reach 10 tour-level quarter-finals in a season.