Zverev holds off France’s Fils

Alexander Zverev needed a recovery to advance into the Halle semi-finals, defeating up-and-coming Frenchman Arthur Fils 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4 in heir quarter-final.

The German second seed is on a mission at home to correct a small fault in his career curriculum: of his 22 titles, none have come on grass.

Zverev needed two and a half hours to hold off the youngster who is leading the points race to the Next Gen under-21 season-ending final.

Fils saved two match points in the penultimate game but hit the net on a third a game later to take the loss.

Zverev will play for his third final here against hubert Hurkacz, a 7-6 (5), 6-4 winner over Marcos Giron.

“Coming from Roland Garros – he lost the final to Carlos Alcaraz – I thought the matches on grass would go quicker,” the winner said.

“But I’m happy to be winning and be in the semi-finals.

“It’s difficult to do any homework on the grass besides serve and return. In the first set I was not doing a good job on returns, but I’m happy with the win.

“I’m still trying to figure out grass, I know I can play well on it,”

Fils was broken twice, both times on double-faults; the Frenchman cracked a racquet after losing the second set.

Zverev is the first player since Roger Federer in 2012-2019 to reach back-to-back Halle semi-finals after losing a year ago to eventual champion Alexander Bublik.

He is also the last German finalist in Halle, finishing runner-up in 2016 (to Florian Mayer) and 2017 (to Federer).