Fritz Triumphs In Atlanta

Taylor Fritz capped a perfect return to North American hard courts Sunday by winning the Atlanta Open for his second tour-level title of the season.

In his first tournament on home soil since March, the top seed Fritz downed Australian Aleksandar Vukic 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-4 in the final to lift the ATP 250 trophy. Despite having two championship points on return at 6-5 in the second set, Fritz held his nerve to close the two-hour, 16-minute clash in a deciding set.

“I just felt so at home and welcomed in Atlanta this week,” Fritz said during the trophy presentation. “I’ve been coming back here for so many years, so I’m happy to finally get the title. All week, the support was amazing. I’m not from Atlanta, but it felt like I was because the support was just crazy all week long and it felt great.”

World No. 9 Fritz relied on his hefty serve and first-strike to tennis to be crowned champion at the hard-court event, where he was broken just once all tournament. The 25-year-old won 84 per cent of his first-serve points Sunday and in key moments, struck his groundstrokes with conviction and consistency to seal victory.

A pivotal moment came when Fritz earned triple break point at 3-3 in the decider by showing great defence to win a 27-shot rally.

Fritz, who also triumphed in Delray Beach earlier this year, has won six tour-level titles, three of which have came in his home country.

Fritz rose to ninth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin as a result of his standout week in Atlanta. The American No. 1 is aiming to return to the Nitto ATP Finals, where he was a semi-finalist last year as an alternate.

Vukic, 27, was competing in his maiden tour-level final. The former University of Illinois standout ousted three seeded players in Atlanta and will rise 20 spots to a new career-high No. 62 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on Monday.