In first match as a Top 5 player, Taylor Fritz wins all-American clash against Isner in Acapulco

Monday was already a good day for Taylor Fritz—he rose to a new career-high of No. 5 on the ATP rankings, making him the first American man to reach the Top 5 since Andy Roddick in 2009.

But he put the icing on the cake on Monday night by winning his first match as a Top 5 player, battling past John Isner, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, in an all-American first-round clash at the ATP 500 stop in Acapulco.

“I’m extremely happy,” Fritz said in his on-court interview. “When the draw comes out, he’s obviously not who you want to see in the first round—it’s so much of a 50/50 match that can go either way, and I was very fortunate. I won a lot of the important points today.”

Isner had won three of the pair’s five previous meetings, but Fritz won their last encounter at Atlanta in 2021—before Fritz was a Top 5 player, or even a Top 10 player, or even a Top 20 player.

Nevertheless, Isner came out strong, ripping a forehand winner to snag the first break of the match for a 5-3 lead, then serving the first set out at love, clinching it with another forehand winner.

Fritz was in some trouble in two different service games in the second set, facing a 0-30 hole in the very first game and then a 15-30 deficit serving at 3-all. But he served his way out of it every time, ripped a backhand passing shot to earn his first break of the match for 5-3, and then served out the second set at love.

The third set stayed on serve until 4-all, when Fritz pounced one last time, breaking for 5-4 and then fighting off a break point in the next game to close it out, finishing off the one-hour, 52-minute victory with a big serve out wide that Isner couldn’t get back in the court.

Both players finished with more winners than unforced errors, Fritz 20 to 17 and Isner 35 to 31—the key difference came on break points, with Fritz converting two of three but Isner going one-for-four.

Fritz was asked afterwards what it meant to him to reach the Top 5.

“It definitely didn’t feel any different on the court, but it’s a massive honor,” the 25-year-old said. “When you put things in perspective and kind of look back, if I thought I’d be here when I was younger, it’s great. I kind of want to stop thinking about it, though, because I want to focus on the tournament and I’m hearing so much about it!

“But yeah, I’m so pumped to kind of check that off the list.”

Up next for Fritz will be former No. 10 Denis Shapovalov, who let a 5-2 lead slip en route to dropping the first set but battled back to beat Miomir Kecmanovic in three sets, 6-7 (4), 6-0, 7-5.

Shapovalov leads Fritz in the pair's head-to-head, 5-2, but that began as 3-0—they've split their last four meetings, 2-2.