By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, July 28, 2023
Arthur Fils, 19, surged through seven straight games crushing Casper Ruud 6-0, 6-4 to score his first Top 10 win and roar into the Hamburg semifinals.
Photo credit: Hamburg European Open Facebook
Dancing to his left, Arthur Fils fired one final forehand winner and erupted in hearty exclamation.
The 19-year-old Fils' primal scream punctuated a powerful statement.
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Fils surged through seven straight games crushing top-seeded Casper Ruud 6-0, 6-4 to score his first career Top 10 win and charge into the Hamburg European Open semifinals for the first time.
It was a performance worth shouting about.
“I’m really happy about it. Of course, it was a tough match,” said Fils afterward. “I had good tactics with my coach before the match. We talked before the match, that I have to believe I can win.
"Of course, I’m coming on court, I want to win, so I tried to play my game and I played my best today, so I’m happy about it.”
One of the youngest men in the Top 100 scored his biggest career win continuing a break-out season.
World No. 71 Fils maintained his perfect record in ATP quarterfinals (4-0) and has won all 13 of his Tour-level matches in 2023.
From the first ball, Fils was feeling it drilling deep drives into all corners of the court and battering Ruud's two-handed backhand into short replies or errors.
Competing with energy and plenty of positive emotion, Fils often had the answer when Ruud tried to press the attack.
The 6'1" Fils served 69 percent, won 28 of 33 first-serve points and erased the lone break point he faced in a commanding 77-minute victory.
Fils, who defeated Francisco Cerundolo to capture his maiden ATP title before home fans in Lyon last May to become the youngest Frenchman since Gael Monfils in 2005 to win a Tour-level title, now stands one win from his second ATP final.
The explosive Fils will face fourth-seeded home favorite Alexander Zverev for a spot in Sunday's final.
Olympic gold-medal champion Zverev dispatched another 19-year-old rising French star, Luca Van Assche 6-3, 6-4 in his quarterfinal.
Zverev zapped eight aces against one double fault and dropped just 10 points on serve in an 89-minute victory.
It's Zverev's fifth semifinal of the season and sets up his first meeting against the highly-touted Fils.
The 19th-ranked German is the lone seed still standing after two seeded players lost today.
Laslo Djere dethroned defending-champion Lorenzo Musetti 7-5, 6-3 on the strength of three service breaks.
Musetti, who defeated Carlos Alcaraz in the 2022 Hamburg final, carried a 7-0 tournament record onto court, but couldn't crack the code of the steady Djere, who denied the third seed his third semifinal of the season.
World No. 79 Zhizhen Zhang defeated Germany's Daniel Altmaier 6-4, 6-4 to advance to his first ATP semifinal. Zhang will play Djere in tomorrow's semifinal, ensuring there will be at least one unseeded finalist on Sunday.