STUTTGART, Germany (Reuters) -German top seed Alexander Zverev took out American third seed Ben Shelton with a 7-6(8) 7-6(1) victory in the semi-finals of the Stuttgart Open on Saturday to set up a showdown with Taylor Fritz.
Zverev and Shelton tested each other in a high-quality encounter before the world number three played a near flawless tiebreak to clinch the match in little over two hours and stretch his career win-loss record over the American to 3-0.
The 28-year-old banged down 15 aces, 35 winners and did not face a break point in front of his home crowd to reach his first grasscourt final in eight years.
“I’m super happy to be in the final, it’s my first grasscourt final since 2017,” Zverev said. “It’s been eight years. I actually really like playing on the surface. I’m happy to be in the final in Germany again, I’m looking forward to it.”
Despite the defeat, Shelton will take plenty of positives from the ATP 250 event, with the 22-year-old set to make his top 10 debut in the ATP rankings on Monday.
In the first semi-final, Fritz, ranked seventh in the world, sent down 10 aces and 23 winners, winning 86% of his first-serve points to knock out Canadian fourth seed Felix Auger Aliassime 6-4 7-6(5).
“The claycourt season wasn’t the best for me, so I came here more motivated to start the grass season off well,” said Fritz after reaching his first tour-level final since November. “I’m super happy that I’ve been able to start it off with a final.
“I’m locked in and ready to go. Once I start winning a couple of matches on grass and start feeling good, all the other things start clicking for me.”
The second seed is eyeing a fourth grasscourt title, as he looks to continue to build momentum towards Wimbledon, where the 27-year-old is a twice quarter-finalist.
Fritz holds a 7-5 head-to-head win-loss record against Zverev heading into Sunday’s final.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru;)
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