Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul or Marcos Giron will win Delray Beach title

The three highest-ranked American men on the ATP Tour reached the semifinals at the Delray Beach Open Friday, with a red-hot compatriot joining them to guarantee the crowning of a home-grown champion over the weekend.

Taylor Fritz continued his title defense in closing out the night with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Rinky Hijikata. The top seed did not face a break point, winning 10 of his 15 second-serve points.

“It’s always a great feeling to be so into the serve rhythm. Seventy-five percent is really high for me, but even then I felt like the quality of the serves I was hitting was really good,” Fritz told Blair Henley in an on-court interview.

For a shot at retaining the trophy, Fritz will first need to get past Marcos Giron.

Coming off a runner-up finish in Dallas to Tommy Paul, Giron has backed that showing up this week with three more wins. The former NCAA champion dashed Patrick Kypson’s hopes by converting one break of serve in each set to advance, 6-4, 6-4.

Paul also maintained his run of form, transitioning from the indoor courts of last week’s ATP 250 event to make the last four in Delray Beach for the second time in three years. The No. 3 seed beat Jordan Thompson, 6-4, 6-3, to post his ninth win in 11 matches contested in 2024.

On Saturday, Paul faces Frances Tiafoe. The second seed is looking to reach the final here for the first time since 2018 when he captured his maiden ATP title over Peter Gojowczyk.

Tiafoe eased past qualifier Flavio Cobolli, 6-4, 6-2, to post back-to-back victories for the first time this season. The current world No. 15 got the better of Paul at this tournament four years ago in their first tour-level meeting, but has seen his good friend clinch their last pair of encounters—most recently at Adelaide 2 in 2022.

“He’s a really good guy, genuine dude. It’s unbelievable to see what he’s been doing lately,” said Tiafoe. “He’s super fast, he’s gonna make me play a lot of balls. He’s serving much better. And we know each other’s games so well, so that’s always tough.”