Taylor Fritz emerges from all-American final four to defend Delray Beach title

The 2024 Delray Beach Open saw the first all-American semifinal lineup in tournament history—and the fourth on the ATP Tour since 2000—with Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul, Frances Tiafoe and Marcos Giron all reaching the last four. On Monday, the top-seeded Fritz completed a personal first of his own by successfully defending his title at the ATP 250 in South Florida.

After Fritz beat Giron and Paul downed Tiafoe in Saturday's semis, Fritz retained an ATP title for the first time with a 6-2, 6-3 victory against Paul in a rain-delayed final. By winning his seventh ATP Tour title and defending the 250 ranking points he won in his 2023 Delray Beach run, the American No. 1 also maintained his position in the Top 10 of the ATP rankings.

"It's great, obviously my first time defending a title, going back-to-back," Fritz said post-match. "It feels great to show up and have all the pressure on me and be able to come through and play solid all week."

The Fritz vs. Paul title match—a rematch of the 2015 US Open boys' singles final, won by Fritz—was the fourth all-American final in Delray Beach tournament history and the second in as many weeks on the ATP Tour. Last week in Dallas, Paul defeated Giron in a three-set final. While Monday's scoreline was not as close, the match itself was just as competitive.

"You look at the score, 2 and 3, it was not at all like that," assessed Fritz, who saved all seven break points against him in windy conditions.

"Obviously he had a lot of chances to break me back in the first set, he had several chances to go up a break in the second. It really could have gone either way. It was a really close match."

Fritz lost just one set across his two Delray Beach title runs, against Miomir Kecmanovic in the 2023 final. The American was pushed to tiebreaks by Nuno Borges and Giron last week, saving a set point against Giron en route to a 7-6(8), 6-2 semifinal victory.

The 26-year-old Fritz was competing in his second tour-level tournament of 2024 following his Australian Open quarterfinal run, which ended after a four-set defeat to Novak Djokovic. Fritz has also represented the U.S. twice this season at the United Cup and Davis Cup and boasts a 10-2 overall record on the year.

There was also an American doubles champion in Delray Beach: Robert Galloway and Great Britain's Julian Cash came from behind to upset top seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Neal Skupski, 5-7, 7-5, 10-2, on Monday.

The 31-year-old Galloway won his first ATP Tour title in his first tour-level final and was rewarded with a move to career-high ranking of world No. 43.