Paul Outlasts Fritz In Longest Acapulco Match, Reaches Biggest Career Final

Nearly two hours after his first match point, Tommy Paul overcame longtime friend Taylor Fritz in one of the most dramatic matches of the 2023 season Friday night in Acapulco. Paul's 6-3, 6-7(2), 7-6(2) victory had a bit of everything, the three-hour, 25-minute odyssey setting the record for longest match in the 30-year history of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC.

After letting a match point slip on serve at 5-4 in the second set, missing a deep overhead off the bounce, Paul needed a comeback of his own, trailing 0-2 and 1-3 in the third. In a battle of attrition, both men saved break points in their final service games — Fritz erasing two match points at 5-6 — before Paul closed it out after taking a 5/0 lead in the final tie-break.

Just over one month since his breakout run to the Australian Open semi-finals, the seventh-seeded Paul advanced the biggest final of his blossoming career, his first at the ATP 500 level. The 25-year-old won his lone previous title match in 2021 at the Stockholm ATP 250.

Third seed Taylor Fritz saw his seven-match win streak come to a close, a run that dated back to his Delray Beach title run.

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