Taylor Fritz beats Aleksandar Vukic to win Atlanta Open

Atlanta (USA), July 31 (IANS) Taylor Fritz capped a perfect return to North American hard courts by winning the Atlanta Open for his second tour-level title of the season after beating Australian Aleksandar Vukic 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-4 in the final, here.

Despite letting slip two championship points on return at 6-5 in the second set, Fritz held his nerve to close the two-hour, 16-minute clash on Sunday in a deciding set to lift the ATP 250 trophy. 

"I've played this tournament five times before and [made] the semis [in 2021] and final [in 2019]. I feel like I've always been close so it's nice, I don't think I could've handled another loss in the final," Fritz said. 

"It feels really good to get the job done," he added. 

In his first tournament on home soil since March, 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 and struck his groundstrokes with conviction and consistency to seal victory.

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.

"I just felt so at home and welcomed in Atlanta this week. 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," Fritz said.

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

On the other hand, the 27-year old Vukic 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 ATP Rankings on Monday.