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Taylor Fritz wins third Eastbourne title, Wimbledon next

Arthur Kapetanakis | June 29, 2024


For the third time in six years, Taylor Fritz is the Eastbourne men's singles champion. The top-seeded American completed his hat trick at the grass-court event Saturday with a 6-4, 6-3 win against Max Purcell and will now enter Wimbledon on a four-match winning streak.

"I'm pumped. I always feel like I play well here," said Fritz, who also won Eastbourne in 2019 and 2022. "I kind of just had that feeling coming into the week as well. I did a great job."

 

Fritz did not drop serve at the ATP 250, saving all five break points he faced. He hit 59 aces and won more than 90% of his first-serve points across his four victories, also beating Thiago Seyboth Wild, Shang Juncheng and Aleksandar Vukic to become the first three-time champion in tournament history.

 

The 26-year-old won both his quarterfinal (vs. Shang) and semifinal (vs. Vukic) matches via two tiebreaks, and he also claimed a first-set breaker against Seyboth Wild to open his campaign.

 

Fritz has now earned multiple tour-level titles in three straight seasons, having won three in 2022 and two in both 2023 and 2024. His previous crown this season came on home soil in Delray Beach, where he beat Tommy Paul in an all-American final. He now owns seven ATP Tour singles titles overall, with his first coming in Eastbourne in 2019.

Taylor Fritz lifts his third Eastbourne trophy. Photo by Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images.

This latest triumph will also see Fritz reclaim American No. 1 honors from Paul, having ceded that position to Ben Shelton in April. He will move up one place to No. 12 in the ATP rankings and will compete at Wimbledon as the top-ranked U.S. man—though Paul is the highest-seeded American in the draw, which was revealed Friday.

 

Read More: Gauff, Paul lead Americans in Wimbledon singles draws

 

Fritz will open his Wimbledon campaign against Christopher O'Connell, who will be his third Australian opponent in three matches. He is in fourth seed Alexander Zverev's quarter and is seeded to meet the German in the fourth round. Fritz's best Wimbledon run came in 2022, when he reached the quarterfinals before falling to Rafael Nadal in a fifth-set tiebreak.

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