Just over one month since his breakout run to the Australian Open semi-finals, Paul advanced the biggest final of his blossoming career, his first at the ATP 500 level. There were 27 combined break points in the topsy-turvy match, with Paul converting four from 14 and Fritz winning three from 13.

Paul was particularly dominant in the opening set, forcing Fritz to defend and dictating with his athletic baseline game, but there was little to choose between the competitors in the final two sets until one-sided tie-breaks decided both. Over the course of the match, Paul made Fritz pay for his 55 per cent first-serve percentage, with Fritz hovering around that mark for the entirety of the contest. I think I got a little lucky there that we were both struggling, not just me.' And then I think something happened with his stomach too. 'Obviously he got up a break in the third there and it was weird, I started feeling my body a little bit and doing some weird serves, and I don't know if he loved it. 'He doesn't give you any points throughout the whole match, you feel like you have to work for everything. It's never going to be easy against Fritz, he's unreal,' the seventh-seeded Paul added.

In a battle of attrition in the Acapulco humidity, both men saved break points in their final service game - Paul escaping four break points at 5-5 and Fritz erasing two match points at 5-6 - before Paul closed it out after taking a 5/0 lead in the final tie-break. After letting a match point slip on serve at 5-4 in the second set, missing a deep overhead off the bounce, Paul needed a comeback of his own, trailing 0-2 and 1-3 in the third.

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