Almost two hours after his first match level, Tommy Paul overcame longtime pal Taylor Fritz in one of the crucial dramatic matches of the 2023 season Friday evening in Acapulco. Paul’s 6-3, 6-7(2), 7-6(2) victory had a little bit of all the pieces, the three-hour, 25-minute odyssey setting the file for longest match within the 30-year historical past of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC.
“I could not be happier,” Paul mentioned after clinching the semi-final victory on his fourth match level. “Clearly trying ahead to creating the physique really feel a little bit higher tomorrow. The objective for this 12 months was to get the rating up and get extra trophies. I solely have one trophy on Tour between singles and doubles.
“You do not get trophies until your within the last, and hopefully I can play one other good match tomorrow and get the winner’s trophy.”
After letting a match level slip on serve at 5-4 within the second set, lacking a deep overhead off the bounce, Paul wanted a comeback of his personal, trailing 0-2 and 1-3 within the third. In a battle of attrition, each males saved break factors of their last service video games — Fritz erasing two match factors at 5-6 — earlier than Paul closed it out after taking a 5/0 lead within the last tie-break.
“You need to [dig deep]. It is by no means going to be straightforward towards Fritz, he is unreal,” the seventh-seeded Paul added. “He does not offer you any factors all through the entire match, you are feeling like you must work for all the pieces.
“Clearly he received up a break within the third there and it was bizarre, I began feeling my physique a little bit bit and doing a little bizarre serves, and I do not know if he liked it. After which I feel one thing occurred together with his abdomen too. I feel I received a little bit fortunate there that we have been each struggling, not simply me.”
Simply over one month since his breakout run to the Australian Open semi-finals, Paul superior the largest last of his blossoming profession, his first on the ATP 500 degree. The 25-year-old received his lone earlier title match in 2021 on the Stockholm ATP 250. He’s up 5 spots to No. 18 this week within the Pepperstone ATP Stay Rankings — a mark which might match his profession excessive.
Paul, who earned his one hundredth tour-level win by beating Michael Mmoh within the Acapulco second spherical, will face fourth seed Holger Rune or eighth seed Alex de Minaur in Saturday’s last.
Third seed Fritz noticed his seven-match win streak come to a detailed, a run that dated again to his Delray Seashore title triumph. He stays at No. 5 within the Pepperstone ATP Stay Rankings after reaching the Prime 5 for the primary time on Monday, although Andrey Rublev might cross him by successful the Dubai last towards Daniil Medvedev on Saturday.
The ATP Head2Head sequence between Paul and Fritz is now degree at 2-2, however the pair first matched up in 2011 on the USTA Boys’ 14s Nationwide Championships, which Paul received at age 14. In addition they met twice in junior Grand Slam finals, with Paul successful at Roland Garros and Fritz claiming the title on the 2015 US Open.
