Taylor Fritz successfully defended his Delray Beach Open title in a final which was delayed for 24-hours by bad weather.
The American No1, the top seed and world No.9, beat the third seed Tommy Paul, ranked 14 and winner of the previous week’s Dalla tournament, 6-2 6-3 to lift the trophy for a second consecutive year.
The weather hadn’t been great throughout the week as playersvwere hampered by windy conditions and intermittent rain.
“I had a long list of things I needed to do well, but I think a lot of that went out the window when we realised the conditions for the match, [that it was] going to be so windy,” Fritz revealed.
“On both sides [of the court], I had different ideas of what I wanted to do because [I was] just limited with the wind. I tried to serve as best I could, which got me out of some trouble. I started to find it at the end. But it’s incredibly tough to play, do what you want to do when it’s windy like this.”
The champion has now won six consecutive Tour finals dating back to the start of the 2022 season but this is the first time he has successfully defended a title, and he did it without losing a set. In fact, he has only dropped one set at Delray Beach in the last two years.
He faced seven break points throughout the match, which crucially turned in the seventh game of the second set with Paul spending 15 unsuccessful minutes trying to break through. It left him vulnerable in the next game when Fritz broke him and then held to love to clinch the match and title.
“I think there were some questions about how I was physically feeling,” Fritz added. “I didn’t play one of the rubbers at Davis Cup. I wasn’t feeling amazing after Australia, so it’s great to come here and feel like I’m moving and physically, I’m definitely there and can keep playing.
“I don’t need to take any time off to recover and mentally, it was tough conditions, especially today. I kind of just powered through it. All the pressure was on me this week defending the title and I was able to get through it.”
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