Taylor Fritz triumphs in Delray Beach and closes in on top 5 ranking

Taylor Fritz fought past Miomir Kecmanovic on Sunday in Delray Beach, locking in his fifth career title and edging closer to a top 5 debut.

The top-seeded American notched a 6-0, 5-7, 6-2 triumph over the No 4 seed, firing 10 aces and dropping just two first serve points (35/37) across the one hour and 57-minute final.

After getting blasted in the opening set, Kecmanovic dug in and made it close, claiming a tense second set on the strength of a single break claimed in the 11th game, after saving two break points to hold for 4-4 and another to save a championship point and hold for 5-5 in the middle set.

“It’s always a battle when we play, and you competed extremely hard and fought really hard today,” Fritz told Miomir on court, trophy in hand. “It was a really tough match.”

Fritz dominated the deciding set and broke twice on two opportunities (in the fourth game and the final game) as he marched to victory, and improved to 3-1 lifetime against Kecmanovic.

Top 5 debut coming for Fritz

The American improves to 5-5 in finals (he has won his last four) and becomes the highest-ranked and first top-10 champion in the 31-year history of the Delray Beach Open.

“It was a great event and my first time back here in quite a while and the event was amazing,” Fritz said. “The turnout was incredible and it made me really proud to be an American playing at a home event with with how amazing the support was.

“This year was incredible after losing in the first and second round every single year I’ve been here, I couldn’t be couldn’t be happier coming back and having this

No 7 Fritz is projected to rise into the top five a week from Monday, when No 5 Andrey Rublev and No 6 Rafael Nadal each drop 500 points from their rankings.

But he will soon have 1000 points of his own to defend at Indian Wells.

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