Fritz went one higher than Draper at Flushing Meadows, reaching the ultimate earlier than dropping to Jannik Sinner.
However he was edged out on this event in an engrossing match.
A shocking forehand winner after chasing down a Fritz smashed helped Draper sneak the primary set on a tie-break however the second set threatened to swing in direction of the world quantity six.
At 3-2, Draper did not take any of six break factors in a marathon Fritz service sport that included 10 deuces. The American broke to like within the subsequent sport en path to taking the set and levelling the match.
However Draper, who solely left the court docket in Vienna on Sunday afternoon and beat Czech Jiri Lehecka on Tuesday, resisted the swing in momentum and dug deep as his power ranges appeared to waver.
He used his highly effective left-handed serve properly all through and capitalised on a wild double fault by Fritz on the finish of a good deciding set to take the competition on his first match level.
“It’s the finish of season – lots of people are hurting, not simply myself,” added Draper.
“I’ll hold preventing for each level regardless of how I’m feeling.”
Earlier, Russian fifth seed Daniil Medvedev was overwhelmed 6-4 2-6 7-6 (7-4) by Australian Alexei Popyrin.
However third seed Alexander Zverev and eighth seed Grigor Dimitrov each progressed with victories in opposition to Tallon Griekspoor and Tomas Martin Etcheverry respectively.
Within the last match of the day, Frenchman Arthur Cazaux – a fortunate loser ranked eighty fifth on the earth – surprised American world quantity 19 Ben Shelton 6-3 7-6 (7-4) in entrance of a raucous dwelling crowd.