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