Taylor Fritz battles past Brandon Nakashima into Washington Open final

WASHINGTON: Taylor Fritz booked his place in the Washington Open final after defeating fellow American Brandon Nakashima 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 in a hard-fought semi-final here at Rock Creek Tennis Center on Saturday.

The third seed produced a composed display to reach the 23rd ATP Tour final of his career, firing 13 aces and 24 winners while limiting himself to 16 unforced errors.

Nakashima, by contrast, struggled with consistency, finishing the contest with 27 unforced errors.

Fritz edged a closely contested opening set by securing the decisive break for a 4-3 lead before serving confidently to take the set in just 34 minutes.

Nakashima responded impressively in the second set as he chased a maiden ATP 500 final. He broke serve early to move 3-1 ahead, held comfortably for a 5-2 advantage and levelled the match after closing out the set with authority.

However, Fritz quickly regained the initiative in the deciding set. He broke Nakashima's serve in the second game before holding to love for a commanding 3-0 lead.

From there, the world number 10 maintained control to secure victory and set up a title clash with Spain's Rafael Jodar.

Reflecting on his triumph, Fritz said securing the early break in the deciding set proved decisive in a closely contested match, as he capitalised on his opportunity and held firm under pressure to seal victory.

"Grabbing that break in the third set made the difference," Fritz said.

"It was really a narrow margin the whole time. Not a lot of chances either way.

"First set I took my chance, in the second set he did. I played a really good break point in the third set, and I dug very deep to just keep holding."