The U.S. men put on an epic show at the Mexican Open tennis semifinals in Acapulco on Friday night, March 3, 2023.
It was the clash of the 25-year-old friends, Taylor Fritz, ranked No. 5 in the world and Tommy Paul ranked No. 23.
They have been playing each other since their early teenage years, but this could be the first time that extreme humidity, cramps, and vomit were part of one of their matches.
If you missed this match, find 3 & a half hours, watch the replay!
Tommy Paul vs Taylor Fritz
SFs in Acapulco, Mexico 2023
Longest Match in the Tournament’s 30 yr History.
Approaching Midnight local time & Holger Rune vs Alex de Minaur is yet to begin.
Tennis is Tennising 🤯 pic.twitter.com/cBn0sYo7cM— LavanyaSingerDinesh🌺 (@LavanyaVocalist) March 4, 2023
Paul Overcome His Physical Issues, An Early Lost Match Point, And Fritz
Paul held on to win the match in a 3-hour 25 minute three-set thriller.
He jumped out to an early and impressive first-set win by the score of 6-3.
Paul took advantage of Fritz who seemed to be struggling to find his rhythm and settle into the match.
In the second set at about 1 1/2 hours into the match, Paul had a match point at 5-4 40-30, but he could not capitalize, and that reinvigorated Fritz who ended up taking the second set in a tiebreaker.
Fritz jumped out to an early lead in the third set when it seemed that the extremely fit Paul was struggling with cramps.
It was a steamy night in Acapulco with an estimated 85% humidity so Paul’s cramps were not a surprise.
How he managed to play through them and overcome them was a surprise.
Paul figured out a way to win as the humidity started to affect Fritz and he had to move to the side of the court to throw up.
Record, SMASHED! 🙌
The moment @TommyPaul1 took out Taylor Fritz in the longest match in Acapulco history to reach his second ATP final.@AbiertoTelcel #AMT2023 pic.twitter.com/qpJahlVd0e
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 4, 2023
Will Tommy Paul have anything left in the tank?
He admitted after the match to getting lucky that both were struggling physically.
Tommy Paul reaches Acapulco Final:
“It’s never gonna be easy against Fritz. He’s unreal. He doesn’t give you any points throughout the whole match. You feel like you have to work for everything… I think I got a little lucky we were both struggling (physically), not just me” pic.twitter.com/xmeTjY8qlJ
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) March 4, 2023
Paul faces Australian Alex de Minaur in the final.
American Men Are Poised To Surge In 2023
Taylor Fritz, Francis Tiafoe, and Tommy Paul are the top three American men in the ATP rankings.
They are playing well and off to a great start; Fritz defeated Tiafoe in the Mexican Open quarterfinals the night before.
All of this bodes well for an exciting 2023 where hopefully one of these players wins his first-ever Grand Slam championship.
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