Fourth seed Taylor Fritz stated he’s going to donate his first-round prize cash from the Australian Open to assist victims from the Los Angeles wildfires.
The fires, which started on 7 January, have killed at the very least 25 folks and are being marked as essentially the most damaging within the metropolis’s historical past.
After beating Chilean qualifier Cristian Garin to achieve the third spherical on Thursday, American Fritz pledged his 132,000 Australian {dollars} (£67,000) first-round prize.
“I simply need everybody to remain protected, it is insane what occurred,” the 27-year-old stated.
“I will be donating my first spherical prize cash to LA wildfire aid funds.
“It is the least I can do. Southern California is my dwelling and LA was my dwelling for a really very long time, so I am simply doing what I can presumably do to assist.”
Fritz, who misplaced to Jannik Sinner in final 12 months’s US Open ultimate, wrote “LA” and drew a love coronary heart on a digital camera lens after his 6-2 6-1 6-0 over Garin in Melbourne.
The world quantity 4 will face French veteran Gael Monfils within the third spherical.
4-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka revealed on Monday that the wildfires had been simply three blocks from her dwelling.
Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula and Iga Swiatek additionally devoted their first-round wins to LA and the firefighters who’ve been tackling the fires.