Paul outlasts fellow American Fritz, reaches Mexican final Medvedev tops Rublev in Dubai final for third straight title South Americans dominate Chile Open semifinals

Acapulco, Mexico. Tommy Paul defeated American and longtime rival Taylor Fritz 6-3, 6-7(2), 7-6(2) in a three-hour marathon match to secure a place in the final of the Mexican Open.

A couple of 25-year-olds reconciled in their teens. They first met each other – when Fritz was 13 and Paul was 14 – at the 2011 USTA Boys Under 14 National Championships in San Antonio, Texas.

It took Paul nearly 3.5 hours to beat third-seeded Fritz in the semi-finals to become the third American to reach the final in Acapulco. Fritz accomplished the feat in 2020 and Sam Querrey won the tournament in 2017.

Paul, who reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open in January, is looking for his second career title after Stockholm in 2021.

He will face Alex de Minaur of Australia who defeated Halger Rune of Denmark 3-6, 7-5, 6-2.

No. 8 seed De Minaur plays 3-0 against Paul and will play in his first final since Atlanta in 2022, when he won his sixth career title.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Daniil Medvedev won his 18th tour-level title and third in a row by beating Andrey Rublev 6-2, 6-2 at the Dubai Championships.

The former No. 1 extended his winning streak to 14 matches, starting on Valentine’s Day and including back-to-back trophies in Rotterdam and Doha.

Medvedev, in the second-longest winning streak of his career, beat Rublev twice in each set and won the last five games on hard court.

Rublev was the reigning champion but quickly fell behind as he was unable to hold a serve in the first game.

“It’s surprising because the start of the year wasn’t perfect,” Medvedev said on the court after defeating his good friend. “So I had a lot of doubts, and now I just feel better.”

Medvedev inflicted the first defeat of the year on Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals.

The 2021 US Open champion defeated Andy Murray to win the Qatar Open last week after beating Yannick Sinner in the Rotterdam Open final.

SANTIAGO, Chile. Three of the four Chile Open semi-finalists are from South America.

Spaniard Jaume Munar will be the only exception in the clay court tournament after beating Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. Munard’s next opponent will be home crowd favorite Nicolas Jarry, who beat Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann 3:6, 6:3, 6:4.

In the other semi-final, two Argentines will meet: Sebastian Baez, who finished third, will face Thomas Martin Etcheverry.

Baez defeated Laszlo Jere 7-6(4), 6-4. Etcheverry eliminated another Serbian player, Dusan Lajovic, 6-1, 6-2.