Taylor Fritz triumphs in Delray Beach and closes in on top 5 ranking
The American outlasted Miomir Kecmanovic in three sets to claim his fifth career title at the Delray Beach Open.
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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