By Tennis Now | Saturday, April 22, 2023
No. 4-seeded Botic van de Zandschulp topped Taylor Fritz 6-4, 7-6(2) to set up a Munich final rematch vs. defending champion Holger Rune.
Photo credit: Getty
Illness ended the 2022 Munich final prematurely.
Botic van de Zandschulp found a red-clay remedy today to set up a final rematch.
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The fourth-seeded van de Zandschulp topped Taylor Fritz 6-4, 7-6(2) to reach his second straight Munich final.
Van de Zandschulp posted his sixth career Top 10 win to advance to his second career ATP final and deny Fritz his first clay-court final.
Defending champion Holger Rune and van de Zandschulp will run it back again tomorrow.
Earlier, the top-seeded Rune dismissed Aussie Christopher O'Connell 6-3, 6-2 in today's first semifinal.
Rune won just 8 of 21 second-serve points but was at his best under stress. Rune saved all eight break points he faced in reaching his seventh career final.
A year ago, Rune roared through 11 of the last 15 games dispatching German Oscar Otte 6-4, 6-4 to reach his first ATP final on the red clay of Munich.
In the 2022 final, 19-year-old Rune won his maiden title in Munich after van de Zandschulp was forced to retire with illness up 4-3 in the final.
Rune made history as the first Danish ATP champion since big-hitting Kenneth Carlsen won Memphis back in 2005.
It wasn't the way the former junior world No. 1 wanted to win his first ATP crown—and certainly not the way the van de Zandschulp wanted to cap his first final.
"This is probably the worst way to win a final," said Rune after that 2022 title match. "Obviously, expecting a very tough match and he came out very strong and then all of a sudden something happened to him.
"For now, I just wish him all the best, speedy recovery and we all hope to see him back on court soon."
Last Sunday, Rune blew a 4-1 third-set lead as Andrey Rublev roared back to capture the Monte-Carlo Masters championship.
Showing no scar tissue from that brutal loss on Sunday, Rune aims to extend his reign as the third-youngest Munich champion in the Open Era. Rune is now 8-0 in Munich and bidding to defend a title for the first time.
Neither finalist has surrendered a set en route to this rematch.