Fritz beats best man to advance to Oracle Challenger Series final in Newport Beach

At 6 feet 4, Taylor Fritz rarely has to look up to his competition on the tennis court.

Then again, it’s also not every day that you play against the best man in your wedding.

Both were true Saturday for Fritz, in a men’s singles semifinal at the inaugural Oracle Challenger Series tournament at Newport Beach Tennis Club. No. 3-seeded Fritz had to play against his best friend Reilly Opelka, who stands 6-11.

“It’s never easy to play your friend, and Reilly and I are literally best friends,” Fritz said. “We both understand that it’s our job and we’re going to be respectful on the court, but at the same time, try our hardest to beat each other. I’m just really happy I got through it.”

Fritz, a 20-year-old who lives in Palos Verdes, prevailed in straight sets 6-3, 7-6 to advance to the final. There he will play Bradley Klahn of Poway at 10 a.m. Sunday. Klahn, a former NCAA singles champion at Stanford, got past qualifier Christian Garin of Chile, 6-3, 0-6, 6-4, in the first semifinal.

The women’s singles final at the Women’s Tennis Assn. 125K series event will also take place Sunday at Newport Beach Tennis Club at approximately noon. It will match qualifier Sofya Zhuk of Russia against wild-card American Danielle Collins. Zhuk got past local favorite Mayo Hibi of Irvine 2-6, 7-6, 6-4 in the first semifinal, before Collins dispatched No. 7-seeded Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia 6-4, 6-3.

Fritz took a 4-1 lead in the second-set tiebreaker against Opelka, before Opelka stormed back for a 6-5 advantage and a set point. Fritz, however, finished strong to close out his friend.

Zhuk also closed well against Hibi, after a slow start. The Russian, who won the Wimbledon junior girls’ title in 2015, had two set points on Hibi’s serve at 4-5 in the second set and four more set points in the tiebreaker. Hibi rallied to tie the tiebreaker at 6-6 and 7-7, but Zhuk won the next two points.

Zhuk then earned a crucial break of serve at 4-4 in the third set, before serving it out.

“In the third set, I was cramping from the beginning, which was terrible,” Hibi said. “Every point was so long. I guess I’ve just got to work on my stamina.”

Zhuk was obviously thrilled to win the match, dropping her racquet in delight after the final point. She said it was tricky to play against Hibi and her very effective slice backhand.

“I didn’t really know what to do, because she was getting every single ball,” Zhuk said. “I’ve never played a girl who slices from the backhand every single ball … In the second set, I started getting into the rhythm and I just started trying everything I can. So, something worked.”

Doubles champions also were crowned Saturday. In the men’s doubles final, No. 2-seeded Jamie Cerretani of the United States and Leander Paes of India beat Denis Kudla of the U.S. and former Orange County Breaker Treat Huey of the Philippines, 6-4, 7-5.

Misaki Doi of Japan and Jil Teichmann of Switzerland got past Jamie Loeb of the U.S. and Rebecca Peterson of Sweden in the women’s doubles final, 7-6, 1-6 and 10-8 in the third-set super-tiebreaker.

Paes, 44, won his 25th ATP Challenger Tour doubles title. He is widely regarded as one of the best doubles players of all-time, with eight men’s doubles and 10 mixed doubles Grand Slam titles.

Paes also is a fan of Newport Beach Tennis Club, where his coach Rick Leach is a club professional.

“Steve Joyce, the [NBTC] owner, is like a brother to me,” Paes said. “He’s been very kind to allow me to practice here over the last 15 years. I am a member at the club, and I feel like I have home-court advantage when I’m playing here … I felt comfortable [this week].”

Admission is free for Sunday’s men’s and women’s singles finals.

matthew.szabo@latimes.com

Twitter: @mjszabo