Washington (United States) (AFP) – World number 10 Taylor Fritz held off 19-year-old Spaniard Rafael Jodar 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 on Monday to claim his first ATP title of 2026 in the rain-delayed final at Washington. Fritz, seeded third in the 500-level hard court tournament, needed five match points to subdue the 24th-ranked teen and capture his 11th title, and his first since Eastbourne last year.
After seizing control in the first-set tiebreaker, Fritz roared to a 3-0 lead with a pair of service breaks in the second. He gave back a break in the fourth game with a double fault on break point, and Jodar climbed out of a 0-30 hole to hold serve and narrow the gap to 3-2. But Jodar couldn’t find another break. He held for 5-4 to force Fritz to serve it out, the American’s chance delayed just slightly as Jodar had treatment on his left wrist after taking a tumble in the ninth game.
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The final game was a slugfest. Fritz squandered a pair of match points at 40-15 and gave himself another with a booming forehand. Jodar fought off two more match points before earning a break point that Fritz saved with another forehand winner. Fritz finally got the job done after one hour and 49 minutes, Jodar misfiring on a pair of forehands to bring it to a close. Fritz, who was playing his third final of the season, collapsed to the court when it was done before rising to salute the crowd.
“It was just relief, like thank God I got it done,” Fritz said of his reaction to sealing the win. “It wasn’t so much as like a celebration, just thank God I’m done. I can just lay down for a second.”
Fritz said wind contributed to errors from both players in the tight first set. “It was very windy in the beginning. I felt like it was very hard to control the ball,” he said. “There was a lot of errors and mistakes early on, but I did a great job of just serving well the whole first set. Even though I maybe wasn’t playing amazing, I still was holding and being in the match. I felt like I reeled it together really nicely in the tiebreaker. It was one of the better tiebreakers I have played in a while. I think I made all my first serves and put returns in the court. Just a very, very good breaker.”
Then I followed up, I played two very good return games to start the second set. That gave me the lead that I needed that I could hold onto for the match. The contest was postponed from Sunday after heavy rain halted the WTA final between Jessica Pegula and Alexandra Eala. Jodar missed out on a second ATP title, after winning in Morocco in April. But by reaching the final he’s assured of reaching a career-high 15th in the rankings.
“It was a great tournament,” Jodar said. “I think overall I played great matches against tough opponents. I’ll take all the learning from this week to try to add it to the next week.”
© 2024 AFP
