"I got a little lucky, we were both struggling" - Paul on record-breaking win over Fritz
ATP
Tommy Paul recorded probably the biggest win of his career to reach the 2023 Mexican Open final and he chose a great match to do so.
The American took on his good friend and compatriot Taylor Fritz, and to beat the country's No. 1 player, he had to fight for more than 3 hours in Acapulco, making it the longest match ever played at the event.
By beating Fritz, Paul also reached his first ATP 500 final, and after the match, he was clearly happy to achieve such a good result in Acapulco.
"I couldn't be happier. Obviously looking forward to making the body feel a little better tomorrow. The goal for this year was to get the ranking up and get more trophies. I only have one trophy on Tour between singles and doubles."
Aware of how important the final match against Alex de Minaur, who defeated Holger Rune, will be, the American player hopes to play well in the final match as well.
"You don't get trophies unless you're in the final, and hopefully I can play another good match tomorrow and get the winner's trophy."
The American didn't forget to praise his opponent, who also gave it his all but ultimately fell short against Paul.
"You have to [dig deep]. It's never going to 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."
"Obviously he got up a break in the third there and it was weird, I started feeling my body a little bit and doing some weird serves, and I don't know if he loved it. And then I think something happened with his stomach too. I think I got a little lucky there that we were both struggling, not just me."
