The Rothesay International tournament comes to a close on Saturday as the final match before Wimbledon gets underway next week takes place in Eastbourne when Taylor Fritz goes up against Max Purcell for the title.
Fritz has already won this tournament twice in his career and he’ll be looking for a third success here while Purcell will be going after his first ATP Tour title in singles play so there is a lot to play for ahead of the latest major of the year.
Taylor Fritz
Taylor Fritz went into the tournament as the number one seed and the man who was expected to win the competition and he has lived up to that expectation so far. He will be looking for a title to go to Wimbledon as a danger and with his big serve and with the hot spell in the UK firming up the courts he certainly wouldn’t be without a chance over the next fortnight. He definitely has a chance here as well if he continues as he has been this week.
Fritz came into the week under a bit of a doubt after an ordinary display against Jordan Thompson at Queens but he has come through the three matches that he has had to play without dropping a set, although five of the six sets that he has played have gone to a tiebreak which suggests that the American might not be on the very top of his game. Nevertheless, he has made it through and has plenty of experience of winning finals having won seven titles in the past.
Max Purcell
There is no doubt that since Max Purcell started taking singles more seriously just over a year ago he has made huge strides. Having such a doubles background he was always going to be good on grass where you need to finish points at the net a lot more and so he has clearly enjoyed his week here. This will be the biggest day in his singles career but he has won plenty of doubles titles on the circuit so he knows how to play in finals.
This has been a busy week for the Australian. He had to come through qualifying to get into this tournament and has played four matches in the main draw so this will be a seventh win in eight days were he to achieve it. He has only dropped two sets all week though so that is a positive. If he can get a read on the Fritz serve then he certainly has the game to trouble the American but I think it is fair to say that he is a second favourite here.
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Head-to-head
These two have only met on one previous occasion and it was Taylor Fritz who came out on top. That was in Basel last year where Fritz won in two tiebreak sets. That was at an early stage of that event so this will be their first meeting on grass and it will also be their first battle in a final of any kind.
Betting
I wouldn’t want to oppose Taylor Fritz to win but this is a player who has had five tiebreaks in six sets this week and the previous time these two met the match went to a tiebreak in both sets so I’m not convinced that the American is going to win this one easily. The fact that the previous match went to tiebreaks tells us that Max Purcell can handle the Fritz serve and also that his own service games can be held nicely, especially here where the spins and things are more potent.
You can get the Australian with a 3.5 game start so even if this follows the trend of their previous meeting and the matches that Fritz has played this week and Purcell goes down in tiebreaks, we would be fine backing him on the handicap. Were Purcell to win a set then we would be looking very good because Fritz has struggled to break serve this week. Both are playing well enough to hold serve enough for Purcell to ride home that 3.5 game start here.
Tips
Back M.Purcell (+3.5 games) to beat T.Fritz for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Boylesports
Back him here:
