TENNIS: Fritz flies past Kypson to reach Wimbledon third round

Last year's semi-finalist Taylor Fritz continued his smooth progress at Wimbledon by mowing down fellow American Patrick Kypson 6-2 6-2 7-5 to make the third round on Thursday and remain on course for a maiden Grand Slam title.

Fritz recorded his best result at the All England Club 12 months ago and the sixth seed followed up his straight-sets win over lucky loser Dusan Lajovic in the last round with another convincing display to emerge as a dark horse.

The gulf in class on Court Two became evident early as Fritz eased through the opening two stanzas with minimum fuss, but the 28-year-old encountered a lot more resistance from world number 113 Kypson in the third set.

After losing a six-deuce game to let Kypson off the hook and draw level at 4-4, Fritz shifted gears again in the 12th game to close out the victory and book a meeting with either Canadian Gabriel Diallo or Italian Lorenzo Sonego in the next round.

-Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in London; Editing by Alison Williams/Reuters