{"id":489457,"date":"2026-02-21T07:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T07:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/489457\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T07:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T07:38:08","slug":"tennis-atp-delray-beach-open-2026-paul-takes-out-fritz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/489457\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennis, ATP \u2013 Delray Beach Open 2026: Paul takes out Fritz"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tommy Paul played close to his best to upset top-seeded Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-3 while Sebastian Korda fought back to eliminate second seed Casper Ruud 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 on a night of major upsets at the Delray Beach Open.<\/p>\n

The Florida crowd witnessed a significant shift in the draw as the tournament\u2019s heavyweights were ousted in consecutive matches on Center Court. Tommy Paul, the 28-year-old world number 24 and fifth seed, dominated his long-time rival and top seed Taylor Fritz in just over 80 minutes. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Paul, who missed the 2025 edition and describes Delray as his \u201cbackyard,\u201d utilized his superior athleticism to exploit a visibly hampered Fritz. The world number 8 has been struggling with oblique and knee issues throughout the early 2026 season and could not find his usual rhythm on serve, his main weapon.<\/p>\n

Paul secured a decisive break in each set, neutralizing Fritz\u2019s power with deep returns and consistent baseline pressure to reach the semi-finals. \u201cDelray is one of my favorite events of the year. Always fun getting to play in my backyard. I was gutted to miss this event in 2025 and really excited to be back in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

Korda rallies past Ruud to end second seed\u2019s Florida campaign<\/p>\n

Sebastian Korda produced a spirited comeback to defeat the second-seeded Casper Ruud 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. The 25-year-old American world number 50 initially struggled with the depth of Ruud\u2019s heavy forehand, dropping the opening set to the world number 13.<\/p>\n

However, Korda adjusted his court position in the second set, taking the ball earlier and forcing the Norwegian into defensive positions. Ruud, who had survived a three-hour marathon against Marcos Giron in the previous round, appeared to lose his physical edge as the match progressed.<\/p>\n


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Korda broke Ruud twice in both the second and third sets to secure his most significant hard-court victory of the year and set up a semi-final clash with third seed Flavio Cobolli.<\/p>\n

Tien edged ouT Tiafoe<\/p>\n

The surge of the next generation continued as 20-year-old Learner Tien edged out eighth seed Frances Tiafoe 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-5 in a match that lasted nearly three hours. Tien, the world number 23 and fourth seed, demonstrated the poise that saw him reach the Australian Open quarter-finals earlier this year.<\/p>\n

In a back-and-forth encounter, Tiafoe utilized his experience to force a decider, but the younger American remained firm, breaking the world number 28 at 6-5 in the third set to advance. Tien will now face Tommy Paul in an all-American semi-final, while Tiafoe remains in search of his first title since 2024.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, Italy\u2019s Flavio Cobolli avoided the upset trend by defeating Hong Kong\u2019s Coleman Wong 7-5, 6-7(7), 6-2. The 23-year-old world number 32 utilized his superior clay-court fitness to outlast the qualifier in the humid Florida conditions. Cobolli\u2019s victory ensures that at least one international seed remains in the hunt against the American contingent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tommy Paul played close to his best to upset top-seeded Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-3 while Sebastian Korda fought…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":489458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-489457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}