Taylor Fritz vs Tommy Paul Delray Beach Final Tennis Prediction and Pick 2/18/24

Taylor Fritz vs Tommy Paul

Feb 18, 2024

Taylor Fritz -166 / Tommy Paul +125

Top seed Taylor Fritz will face third seed Tommy Paul in an all-American final at the 2024 Delray Beach Open. The match will be played on Sunday, February 18, 2024. Here's our Taylor Fritz vs Tommy Paul prediction.

Taylor Fritz

Taylor Fritz is looking to win his second title in Delray and complete the first successful title defense of this tournament since 1997. The lanky American has had to dig deep to get to the final, even though all three of his matches finished in straight sets. He had to save a set point in his first match against Nuno Borges and then against Marcos Giron in the semifinal. He's been able to clutch it out when in desperate need. Fritz will certainly need similar levels of resilience against Tommy Paul on Sunday. 

Tommy Paul

Tommy Paul, for his part, is looking to go back-to-back, too, after winning the Dallas 250 just a week ago. The 26-year-old, who hails from New Jersey, has not been perturbed by fatigue despite surviving a major scare on his opening match against the talented 19-year-old Alex Michelsen, whom he defeated in a third-set tie-break. Paul then cruised past Jordan Thompson and, perhaps surprisingly, against Frances Tiafoe in the semis, relinquishing just four games.

Taylor Fritz vs Tommy Paul Head-To-Head

In four ATP meetings, Fritz and Paul have each picked up two wins, with three of those matches featuring at least one tie-break set.

Taylor Fritz vs Tommy Paul prediction

The Delray curse (of the champion not defending the title for nearly three decades) could come back to haunt Fritz. The momentum is with Tommy Paul here, even though Taylor Fritz is armed with the bigger tools to play clutch tennis and survive. As mentioned, three of their four tour-level meetings have seen at least one tie-break set, including their marathon match at last year's Mexican Open, which Paul won 7-6 in the third. I'm leaning towards Paul. He is a better mover than Fritz and will look to put his compatriot in uncomfortable positions by extending the points. Fritz's serve will need to work overtime to bail him out of trouble. It should be tight, but Paul is worth the investment here. 

The pick in this article is the opinion of the writer, not a PickDawgz site consensus.