America’s Taylor Fritz registered a 7-6(3), 7-6(2) victory against countryman Frances Tiafoe in the final to clinch the Japan Open Tennis Championships men’s singles title, here on Sunday.Immediately following seven days in hotel quarantine in Seoul, Fritz completed a perfect five-day stretch in Tokyo to claim his third title of a career-defining year. With this, the third seed became the 10th different American singles champion at the ATP 500 event and the first since Pete Sampras in 1996.
“[It is] crazy, I don’t even think it’s set in just how fast the last four or five days have been,” said Fritz after the match.”It’s so crazy, and I couldn’t have written it any better. It’s exactly what I needed for the Race [To Turin], for my ranking, to kind of put me in a good position for the end of the year, so it’s amazing,” he added.Tiafoe carried a streak of 13 straight singles tie-break wins into the title match, but Fritz dominated both on Sunday with aggressive hitting. He did not drop a point on serve in either tie-break, both times converting on early leads.The third seed had held the upper hand for much of the match, creating eight break chances compared to three for Tiafoe. A trade of breaks in the third and fourth games made for an eventful start, but the drama peaked in the final three games of the opening set.