ATP
Fritz squeezes Sascha to book first-time Halle final
Taylor Fritz continued his mastery of Alexander Zveerev on Saturday with a 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-5 defeat of the reigning French OPen champion to book the biggest grass-court final of his career.
The Californian raised on hardcourt will be playing his second grass final in eight days after losing the Stuttgart title match to compatriot Ben Shelton.
He took his revenge for that loss in Friday’s quarter-final before polishing off his seventh consecutive win over Germany’s Zverev, twice a finalist on the home grass.
Fritz now stands 10-5 in their series and has never defeated anyone save Zverev 10 times.
The top-seeded Zverev was playing at less than 100 per cent less than a fortnight after lifting his first Grand Slam title.
The 29-year-old left the court for treatment on what appeared to be a back problem at 4-all, 40-all in the opening set.
He came back out and powered through, losing only three points on serve in the third set before the wheels came off his game in the stifling 30 Celsius heat with the German leaning heavily on his racquet after exhausting points.
Fritz broke for 6-5 in the deciding set and smashed a game later to bring on three match points; he converted on his third after nearly two and three-quarter hours to reach the biggest grass final of his career.
“When I was down a set, I had no option but to fight it out,” Fritz said. “I played a good tiebreak and had some chances but got a few bad bounces on my side.
“I knew he was struggling with something and it was insanely hot. But I think I was feeling better than he was.”
Fritz said he chose to come to the loaded Halle event in northern Germany rather than play in London at Queen’s this week.
“I’ve never played good tennis there and I knew it would be a crazy decision to come here,” the ATP No. 9 said.
“If I’m playing well on grass then the strength of the field doesn’t matter.”
Main photo:- Taylor Fritz winning in Halle – by ATPTour.com
Laver Cup debutant Lerner Tien showed he’s fast on the rebound as the American took inspiration from coach Andre Agassi to level the Laver cup score a 3-3 with a Saturday win in London over Flavio Cobolli.
Tien, at 20 a young gun on the Rest of the World side, defeated Italy’s Roland Garros finalist 6-3, 2-6, 10-7.
With Day 2 win counting two points each, the victory in 97 minutes put teammates Alex de Minaur and Taylor Fritz on level-pegging heading into their later singles tests against Europe.
World has won four of the previous five titles in the exhibition run by Roger Federer’s management group in honor of the Swiss icons tennis idol, Rod Laver..
Tien, who won the spring Geneva ATP title, said he has to make a major reset after losing the second set to Cobolli, fighting back to win the match tiebreak third set at the O2.
“I can reset pretty easily,” the No. 13 said. “In this format, the score does not matter so much. Everyone always had a chance.
“To put the second set behind me was pretty good.”
Tien dropped serve twice in the second set after winning the first. But his deciding set fightback made the difference for his side.
“I just went into lockdown, there are some moments where the ball if just there to go for it. It was still tough to get through.”
The youngster gave full credit to Agassi for his inspiration. “Andre has given me more knowledge than everyone combined. It’s good to have a voice like that on the sidelines encouraging you. It’s very helpful.”
Casper Ruud and Rafa Jodar combined to start and finish Friday’s opening stage of the Laver Cup as their victories sent Europe into a 2-1 lead over Rest of the World in London.
Norway’s Ruud began day 1 play with a 6-7 (4), 6-4, 10-8 defeat of Argentina Francisco Cerundolo while Spanish prodigy Jodar finished off the programme 6-2, 6-4 ovr Alexander Bublik in a winning debut at the team exhibition conceptualised by Roger Federer in 2017 to hour is tennis hero Rod Laver.
Jodar, who turned 20 only days ago, spent 84 minutes in adding a point for Europe coached by French legend Yannick Noah and earning his own 38th match win of this breakthrough season.
“It was a pleasure to represent Team Europe for the first time. I felt great on court. I played against a tough player… I think the atmosphere was great, so thank you everyone for coming” the winner said.
The unpredictable Bublik was unable to match it with the Spanish youngster ranked 14th
Jodar won eight of his final nine service points for the win. Jodar and Carlos Alcaraz combined for a one-two punch in the concluding doubles rubber, defeating Bublik and Taylor Fritz to end the day with a 3-1 European lead
Main photo:- Casper Ruud opens the scoring for Team Europe – ISF Ltd
Jannik Sinner on Friday announced another injury setback, with the world No. 1 withdrawing from the September start of the China Open in Beijing.
The Italian who has not played since defending his Wimbledon title in July, has been on the injury list ever since, missing the Masters events in Canada and Cincinnati and skipping the US Open.
Sinner won the Beijing event a year ago and could now be in doubt for the Shanghai Masters next month.
“Hello everyone, Jannik here,” Sinner posted on social media.
“I want to send the warmest greetings to the Chinese fans. I’m very sorry to announce that I won’t be able to play in Beijing this year.
“My knee is not there, where I would like [it] to be, and I am not ready to compete yet. But I will do everything possible to be there on court as soon as I can.
“What I miss the most is, of course, the tournament, the fans, and the atmosphere. I’ve had a great, great time in the past, winning the title also last year, and I’m very disappointed that I cannot defend it this year, but I’m very happy to come back next year.
“So I wish everyone a very good tournament and I’ll see you all very soon on court again.”
This season has been a roller coaster for the 24-year-old who won five Masters 1000 titles in a row in 2026: Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Madrid, and Rome.
Main Photo:- Jannik Sinner won Beijing trophy in 2023. – by ISF Ltd
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