Taylor Fritz, ranked seven in the world, will compete against Miomir Kecmanovic, ranked 33rd, in the 2023 ATP Delray Beach Open final on Monday.
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Had Radu Albot used one of the three set-point opportunities in the first set, he very well may have been in this tournament’s championship match. In the end, Kecmanovic prevailed over those three to take the first match in a tie-breaker before winning the match in a tense three-setter. After wins over Nuno Borges and Marcos Giron in the previous two rounds, Kecmanovic played for two hours and thirty minutes to win 7-6 (8), 3-6, 6-2. Kecmanovic’s hardest opponent in the previous round was Giron. He entered this tournament having only one set of back-to-back victories this year, which occurred in Adelaide. He defeated Albot in straight sets despite being a 1/3 underdog at the outset. Because of this, the Serb would have been relieved when Albot wasted those set-point opportunities, but his opponent quickly evened the score by taking the second set. And it appeared that Kecmanovic had lost when Albot broke his opponent in the opening game of the third. Kecmanovic, not to be outdone, rallied to break back immediately and then replicated the action twice more to guarantee his position in the championship match.
Fritz won in straight sets for the third straight match to defeat his opponent and advance to his first ATP singles final of the year. Taylor Fritz triumphed 6-3, 7-6 (6) in the semifinal, holding off a late comeback attempt from Mackenzie McDonald to improve her win-loss record to 10-3 for the year. Fritz appeared to be on a roll after defeating Emilio Gomez and Adrian Mannarino in the previous two rounds. He took a 5-1 lead and eventually won the set despite dropping his serve once. The biggest challenge for Fritz came in the second, though. He initially trailed 1-3 and 2-4 before breaking back to force a tiebreaker. And in the subsequent tiebreaker, Fritz fell behind 0-3 and briefly 3-5 before recovering by winning three straight points. Fritz won it using his second match-point, and he is now aiming to add the United Cup to the list of titles he has already won this year.
| Taylor Fritz vs Miomir Kecmanovic | Match details |
|---|---|
| Date | February 18, 2023 |
| Surface | Hard |
| Tournament | Delray Beach Open |
| Stage | Finals |
| Time (India) | 01:30 A.M. |
| Opponent | Score |
|---|---|
| A. Mannarino | 7-6, 6-4 (W) |
| E. Gomez | 6-4, 6-3 (W) |
| Y. Wu | 7-6, 5-7, 4-6 (L) |
| M. Giron | 7-6, 3-6, 6-3 (W) |
| J. Sock | 7-6, 6-4 (W) |
| Opponent | Score |
|---|---|
| N. Borges | 3-6, 5-7 (W) |
| E. Gomez | 2-6, 7-6, 6-4 (L) |
| N. Jarry | 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (L) |
| T. Kokkinakis | 6-3, 6-7, 6-1 (L) |
| J. Kubler | 7-5, 6-7, 4-6 (W) |
These two have faced off against each other three times on hardcourt surfaces, with Fritz holding a 2-1 advantage but Kecmanovic winning the most recent encounter. At the Miami Masters in 2022, that had occurred.
On February 20, Taylor Fritz and Miomir Kecmanovic will square off in the 2023 ATP Delray Beach Open Finals.
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