This is the sixth tour-level victory for the 25-year-old player.
Sunday’s victory at the Atlanta Open gave Taylor Fritz his 2nd tour-level trophy of the year, capping off a successful comeback to the hard courts of the North American continent.
As the top-seeded Fritz won the ATP 250 tournament with a 7-5, 6-7(5), and 6-4 victory over Aleksandar Vukic of Australia in the championship match.
This was Fritz’s first competition on American soil since March. Fritz kept his cool and won the match in a deciding set after a two-hour and 16-minute battle, despite the fact that he blew two championship chances on return when the score was 6-5 in the second set.
I have competed in this competition five times before, and on two separate occasions (in 2021 and 2019), I advanced to the semifinals.
Fritz stated that he did not believe he could have coped emotionally with another defeat in the championship match. “I am feeling like I have always been close, so it’s nice,” Fritz remarked. Having completed the task brings a lot of relief and satisfaction.
Ninth in the world Fritz was only broken a single time for the entirety of the hard-court competition, and he won the title of champion thanks to his powerful serve and his ability to get the first strike in tennis.
On Sunday, the 25-year-old earned 84 percent of the points that were on his first serve, and he sealed the victory for himself by striking his groundstrokes with confidence and consistency.
When Fritz won triple points at 3-3 in the deciding set by displaying excellent defense in overcoming a 27-shot rally, this turned out to be a critical moment in the match.
Today, I had the impression that it looked like, ‘I’m there to win it, and I’d be totally crushed with a final outcome,’ and that’s how I felt. Fritz expressed contentment despite the fact that he had reached the championship round. “I’m pleased with that,” he stated.
Fritz has won on the tour six times, including earlier this season in Delray Beach. Of his six victories, three have occurred in his native nation of Germany.
This past week in Atlanta, I had the distinct impression that I was not just welcome but also at home. “I’m really thrilled to have finally gotten the title because I have been coming back to this place for so many years. The support was incredible throughout the entire week. Although I was not born in Atlanta, I got the distinct impression that I was since the level of support was so overwhelming all throughout the week, and it was a wonderful experience.
As a direct result of his outstanding performance in Atlanta, Fritz moved up to tenth place in the Pepperstone ATP Streaming Race to Turin.
The top-ranked player in the United States is shooting for a spot in the finals of the Nitto ATP, a tournament in which he competed as an alternate and reached the semifinals the previous year.
Vukic, who is 27 years old, was taking part in his first tour-level final. The former star at the University of Illinois defeated three seeded competitors at the Atlanta tournament, and as a result, he will move up 20 positions to a record career-high No. 62 according to the Pepperstone ATP Ratings on Monday.
According to Vukic, if he had been told that he would play in the final match of this tournament, he would have gladly accepted a contract a thousand times over. It is never pleasant to come out on the losing end, but you’re able to look for the silver lining, take what you can from the experience, and move on.
