“It felt great having the American crowd behind me” Fritz starts US hard-court swing with Atlanta Open title

Taylor Fritz has fired a warning shot to the rest of the ATP Tour at the start of the North American hard-court swing, beating an in-form Aleksander Vukic 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-4 to win the Atlanta Open.

It was a dominant display from Fritz, who didn’t face a break point all match and served up 16 aces. In fact, the match could have ended much earlier than the two hours 16 minutes it took, with the American No 1 failing to capitalise on two match points at 5-4 in the second set.

From the very start of the week, Fritz looked like he had arrived in Atlanta to win. His main strength was yet again the serve, with the 25-year-old winning 84% and 74% of his first and second serve points respectively.

While Vukic out-hit Fritz in the winner count, the world No 9 played controlled tennis and leveraged the home crowd support to his advantage when it mattered.

“I felt so welcome, at home, this week in Atlanta,” said Fritz after the match. “I’m not from Atlanta, but it felt like I was. The support was just crazy all week long.

“It felt great having the American crowd behind me, and it really made that extra difference.”

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For Fritz, the Atlanta Open title is his second of the year and sixth overall, with the American looking motivated to put in a strong performance over the next six weeks, playing at home on his favoured surface.

Up next, Fritz heads to Washington where he will be the No 1 seed at the Citi Open next week.

Atlanta Open final run sees Vukic move to No 62

For Aleksander Vukic, it was a brilliant run despite falling at the final hurdle against Taylor Fritz.

The Australian now moves to No 62 in the world on Monday, having been No 133 this time last year. En route to the final, Vukic defeated two Americans in Ethan Quinn (7-6 (5), 6-3) and Christopher Eubanks (6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-5), winning the crowd over at the same time.

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With three three set matches already under his belt heading into the Atlanta Open final, it’s no surprise that Vukic didn’t quite have enough gas in the tank to get over the line. Nonetheless, his performance will be encouraging—it’s the first time he’s taken a set off a top 10 player.

Whether or not he can continue this momentum over the coming weeks in similar conditions, remains to be seen.

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