Fritz holds firm in an all-American semi-final
Taylor Fritz needed two sets and plenty of nerve to get past Tommy Paul in Lyon on Saturday. The 6-3, 7-5 win sends him into his fifth final of the season, and it came against a close friend who sits 18th in the world.
His body was not fully cooperating. Fritz hurt his hip in a fall during the previous round against Altmaier, and he needed treatment on his arm as early as the third game here. None of it showed when the pressure peaked. Paul earned nine break points across the afternoon and Fritz erased every one of them. The last three came at 4-5 in the second set, each one a set point for Paul, and each one disappeared behind a service winner. Fritz broke in the very next game and served the match out.
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Ranking points and a bigger picture
Fritz came to Lyon to pick up points and stay in the hunt for a place at the season-ending Masters. The win lifts him to 12th in the Race, ten points clear of Paul. It is also his first victory over a top-20 opponent on hard courts since he beat Musetti at last year’s Masters.
The recent form had been patchy, with third-round exits at the US Open and the Shanghai Masters 1000. Lyon looks like a reset. He won in Washington this summer and now goes after a second title of 2026 against the winner of the Cobolli v Musetti semi-final.
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