Fritz wins first ATP 500 title in Washington

American tennis player Taylor Fritz has won the ATP 500 tournament in Washington for the first time. The world No. 9 defeated Spain's Rafael Jodar 7:6 (7:2), 6:4 in the final to claim the 11th significant title of his career.

The match was originally scheduled for Sunday evening but was moved to Monday because of rain. Fritz went into the title match as the favourite, with bookmakers offering odds of 1.56 on his victory. Both finalists began the tournament as the 10th and 24th seeds, and in the new rankings released on Monday they finished in 10th and 15th places respectively.

Fritz was stronger on both his first serve (81% to 67%) and second serve (53% to 50%), and he won more total points, 83 to 68. He converted two of three break opportunities, while Jodar converted one of three. The ace-to-double-fault ratio was 6:3 against 5:3. In the tie-break Fritz moved ahead 4:1 and closed it out 7:2. He broke Jodar twice at the start of the second set, saved a break point in a long final game and eventually converted his fifth match point.

This was Fritz's sixth appearance in Washington; his previous best result was a semi-final in 2023. With the victory he now has 11 significant titles, including his first trophy above ATP 250 level since 2022. The 19-year-old Jodar had previously won one ATP singles title. Fritz also improved his head-to-head record against Jodar to 2:0.

The champion earned $461,835 and 500 ranking points, while the runner-up received $248,480 and 330 points.