{"id":98321,"date":"2026-02-22T01:01:48","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T06:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=98321"},"modified":"2026-02-22T01:30:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T06:30:46","slug":"sebastian-korda-tommy-paul-advance-to-atp-delray-beach-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2026\/02\/22\/sebastian-korda-tommy-paul-advance-to-atp-delray-beach-final\/","title":{"rendered":"Sebastian Korda, Tommy Paul advance to ATP Delray Beach Final"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5>Delray Beach, FL&#8211;<\/h5>\n<p>It\u2019s an all-American final on the cards at the 2026 Delray Beach Open, but for locals, it\u2019s Florida vs. Florida on Sunday. Sebastian Korda and Tommy Paul, both previous finalists at this tournament, sealed their spots in the finale on Saturday.<\/p>\n<h4><b>Korda cruises in afternoon matchup\u00a0<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Korda, who made the final of the Delray Beach Open in 2021, took out Flavio Cobolli 7-6(1) 6-1, wearing down the Italian in hot conditions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Leading 5-4 in the first set, Korda had two set points before Cobolli dug himself out of a 16-shot rally to extend the set. In the first-set tiebreak, it was Korda who pulled out the defensive stops to dominate in a 7-1 scoreline.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">On Fire \ud83d\udca5<\/p>\n<p>Sebastian Korda takes the opening tiebreak vs Cobolli in emphatic style!<a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DBOpen?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#DBOpen<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9nqcniIfLn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/9nqcniIfLn<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Tennis TV (@TennisTV) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TennisTV\/status\/2025314786477502745?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 21, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The wheels came off for the No. 3 seed, Cobolli, in the second set. The Italian hit two winners in the set, making just 38% of his first serves.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A backhand passing shot down the line sealed the victory for Korda, who will rise in the rankings to around the No. 40 spot after the tournament.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI definitely take full advantage as much as I can,\u201d Korda said of playing in Florida, discussing growing up in the state\u2019s heat and humidity. He\u2019s from Bradenton, Florida, just outside Tampa, and around three hours away from the Delray Beach tournament site.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Korda has rebounded from a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2026\/01\/18\/the-korda-conundrum\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rough start to 2026, highlighted by a shocking first-round loss<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/category\/australian-open\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Australian Open<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to college star Michael Zheng. He lost in the final of an ATP Challenger Tour event in San Diego, and has compiled a 6-1 run since.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cJust believe in myself,\u201d Korda said of his form in Delray Beach. \u201cI think that\u2019s one of the biggest keys in tennis, honestly, just to have a lot of confidence.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Korda\u2019s appearance in Sunday\u2019s final&#8211;the fifth between two Americans in the tournament\u2019s 34-year history&#8211;will be his first since February 2025, and first since former professional Ryan Harrison joined his team.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"max-width: px\"><smartframe-embed class=\"smartframe_wp_element\" customer-id=\"b0c95bc04383cef69c6b47df872135cf\" image-id=\"WmOBjJNXOkdg\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 6720px; aspect-ratio: 6720\/4480;\" ><\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n<h4><b>Tommy Paul delights the night crowd<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Paul took out Learner Tien 4-6 6-4 6-3 in Delray Beach\u2019s second semifinal under the Saturday night lights. After losing in the Delray Beach final to Taylor Fritz in 2024, he got his revenge over Fritz and now will play for a fifth ATP title on Sunday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tien had won <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2026\/02\/21\/all-american-matchups-headline-atp-delray-beach-quarterfinals\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">two bruising three-setters this week<\/a>, and after he won the first set 6-4, it was looking like he might have his long-awaited easy route to the final. Tien had a break point at 3-3 in the second set, before Paul started to step up his aggression and groundstrokes. He won the second set 6-4, as Tien&#8217;s energy started to dip.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Going three in Delray! Tommy Paul wins a thrilling rally with a forehand winner to set up set point, and then breaks serve to take the set 6-4. <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LastWordTennis?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@LastWordTennis<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/KzjYwE7JOC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/KzjYwE7JOC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Andreas Pelekis (@atp3417) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/atp3417\/status\/2025399771133845772?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 22, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n&#8220;He&#8217;s a tough guy to hold against,&#8221; Paul said of Tien. &#8220;He returns so well, puts pressure on you on first and second serves. He&#8217;s a serious player, he&#8217;s really good, a really good player. He&#8217;s got a really good future ahead of him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> In the third set, some poor misses off Tien&#8217;s racket saw the No. 4 seed slip down a break in the decider. He kept on producing break point chances, but Paul saved all six in the third set.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Paul also had to save a break point in the final game. He hit a strong first serve out wide and looked to serve and volley to close out the match. He thought Tien&#8217;s return would miss wide, but it barely clipped the line.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Only one thing to do, get back to the line and try and make a first serve on that next point,&#8221; Paul, from Boca Raton, Florida, said. He won the next two points to advance to the final.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Tommy Paul is through to Sunday\u2019s <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DelrayBeachOpen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@DelrayBeachOpen<\/a> final. He takes out Learner Tien 4-6 6-4 6-3, on his second match point. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JHmutgs5dy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/JHmutgs5dy<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Andreas Pelekis (@atp3417) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/atp3417\/status\/2025411862314320302?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 22, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\nPaul, the No. 5 seed, now holds a 10-1 record over fellow American players since the start of 2025.<\/p>\n<p>The final is scheduled to kick off at 4 p.m.\u00a0local time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo Credit: Andrew Patron\/Delray Beach Open<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Delray Beach, FL&#8211; It\u2019s an all-American final on the cards at the 2026 Delray Beach Open, but for locals, it\u2019s Florida vs. Florida on Sunday. Sebastian Korda and Tommy Paul, both previous finalists at this tournament, sealed their spots in the finale on Saturday. Korda cruises in afternoon matchup\u00a0 Korda, who made the final of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4624,"featured_media":98336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2,9],"tags":[15670,18113,18904,525,8147,347,1635],"class_list":["post-98321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-atp","category-featured","category-news","tag-flavio-cobolli","tag-learner-tien","tag-michael-zheng","tag-ryan-harrison","tag-sebastian-korda","tag-taylor-fritz","tag-tommy-paul"],"modified_by":"Yesh Ginsburg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4624"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98321"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98338,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98321\/revisions\/98338"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}