Lucky No.7: Fritz Stops Zverev to Set All-American Final with Tiafoe in Halle

Taylor Fritz continued his ownership of Alexander Zverev on Saturday, knocking the hometown favorite out of the Halle draw, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-5, to snap his rival’s ten-match winning streak.

Fritz was the fitter player as Zverev struggled in the hot conditions, and he showed his determination throughout the second and third sets to reach his 22nd career ATP final.

He will face either Frances Tiafoe in an all-American final on Sunday. Tiafoe took out Daniel Altmaier, 6-1, 6-3. The pair will contest the first all-American final in Halle history.

Fritz leads Tiafoe 7-1 in their head-to-head, and they have not met since their US Open semifinal in 2024 (won by Fritz in five sets).

“I felt like he was struggling with something,” Fritz said of his opponent. “I’m not sure exactly what it was. I felt better than he did, and that was kind of what I needed to tell myself: ‘Let’s go to work.’”

Fifth-seeded Fritz made the decision to play in Halle this year, and it has paid off.

The American had not played the event since 2019, entering this year’s stacked draw with an 0-2 lifetime record in Halle. With Saturday’s win – his 30th in his last 35 grass-court matches – Fritz became the first American to reach the final on the German grass since Mardy Fish in 2004.

“I knew going into the week that the field is crazy,” he said. “I saw the draw when it came out, and I’m not even a top-four seed in a week with two ATP 500s where Novak, Carlos and Jannik aren’t even playing.

“In the end, my decision to come here was because I feel like I just haven’t played good tennis at Queen’s, and I felt like, regardless of the strength of the field, if I’m playing well on grass, it doesn’t matter as much. It’s more about me feeling good.”

After dropping the opening set in a tiebreak, Fritz held serve in his final 15 service games to keep constant pressure on Zverev, who was visibly feeling the effects of the heat. The German left the court for a medical timeout and showed signs of fatigue throughout the contest.

Fritz broke at love for 5-4 in the second set and served it out comfortably in the next game.

He then broke for 6-5 in the deciding set and converted his second match point to improve to 10-5 lifetime against Zverev.

Remarkably, Fritz had never defeated another player ten times prior to Saturday’s victory.