Paul defeated Fritz in a dramatic match and went to the final in Acapulco

The American tommy paulseeded seventh, defeated his compatriot taylor fritzthird favourite, at 3 hours and 25 minutes through 6-3, 6-7(2), 7-6(2)and agreed final of the Mexican Tennis Open.

Within longest rivalry in tournament historyPaul dropped a match point in the second set and needed more than an hour to surrender the third set tie break and secure his place in the title fight against the winner of the duel between the Danish Holger Rune and the Australian Alex de Minaur.

Fritzthe fifth ranked racket in the world, was wrong twice as he had break points in the first set and allowed Paul, player 23 of the ATP, to grow, who in the sixth game broke serve and headed for a 6-3 victory .

In the second set, Fritz showed low effectiveness on the first serve but, despite a break in the fourth game, he failed to establish his game and Paul took advantage of it to continue (5-4).

In the tenth game, Paul aced the second serve and moved to within a point of victory but made three consecutive force errors and was caught by Taylor, who won the tie break a few minutes later.

Both missed the accessible ball in the third set. Fritz started with a break, Paul blew his chances to win back the break, but missed again and again until the sixth game when he hit 3-3.

In the twelfth, Tommy dropped two match points and, once again, a sudden death playoff was needed to decide the champion. Paul won six straight points and ended the set 7-2.

This Saturday they will face Rune, tenth in the world rankings, or De Miñaur, twenty second, who will play in the second semifinal for the title.

The Open takes place in Acapulco, a Mexican Pacific resort, on a fast track with a prize pool of $2,178,980.