Fritz fells Shelton and Zverev in 24 hours to reach the Halle final
A seventh straight win over Zverev, and a first Halle final: Taylor Fritz (No 5) beat the top seed and Roland-Garros champion 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-5, ending his 10-match streak and reaching the title match where Daniel Altmaier or Frances Tiafoe awaits.
Taylor Fritz, Halle 2026 | © Imago / PsNewz
American fifth seed Taylor Fritz extended one of the more remarkable streaks in the men’s game on Saturday afternoon, beating German top seed Alexander Zverev 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-5 to reach the final of the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle and inflicting a seventh consecutive defeat on his opponent.
It was a second top-five win in as many days for Fritz, a day on from his three-tie-break victory over Ben Shelton, and it ended Zverev’s 10-match winning run, the German’s first loss since he claimed his maiden Grand Slam at Roland-Garros earlier this month.
Across two hours and 44 minutes, the margins were slender. Zverev edged a tight opening tie-break, but Fritz broke once in the second set to level the match and then again late in the decider, breaking for 6-5 before serving it out to seal a win that was as hard-earned as the scoreline suggests.
Zverev “was struggling with something” (Fritz)
Fritz, who has made a habit of these escapes lately, said there was little to do but dig in once he had dropped the opening set. “It’s been happening to me a lot lately, and there’s not really any other option,” he said. “I played a pretty good tie-breaker, had some chances, got a little unlucky with some bad bounces, and he played some really good points and took one on my serve. That was it.”
He sensed, too, that his opponent was labouring in the conditions. “I felt like he was struggling with something – I’m not sure exactly what it was, but presumably how insanely hot it was. I felt better than he did, so that was what I needed to tell myself: it’s going to work.”
The result laid bare a curious modern rivalry. Fritz has now beaten Zverev seven times in succession, a sequence stretching back to Wimbledon in 2024 and taking in the US Open, two Laver Cups, the ATP Finals and Stuttgart along the way. For all Zverev’s status as world No 3 and a newly crowned major champion, he has found no answer to the American in two years.
It also carried historical weight for Fritz, who reached the Halle final for the first time and became the first American man to do so in 22 years, since Mardy Fish in 2004. It is the 22nd tour-level final of his career, his third of the season and his seventh on grass, the surface on which he has been among the most prolific players in the game.
Fritz had reached the last four with wins over Shelton (6-7 (5), 7-6 (8), 7-6 (3)), Hungarian Fabian Marozsan (6-2, 6-4) and Belgian Zizou Bergs (7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-4).
The American had gone in clear-eyed about the field he faced. “I knew going into the week that it’s crazy. I saw the draw and I’m not even a top-four seed in it,” he said, noting the unusual depth of a week split across two ATP 500s. “It’s a week with two 500s where Novak, Carlos and Sinner aren’t even playing.” He explained that the choice to come to Halle had been about his own game rather than the opposition. “I just haven’t played good tennis at Queen’s, and I felt like, regardless of strength of field, if I’m playing well on grass then it matters less — it’s more about me feeling good. So I’m happy with the decision. It’s paid off.”
Tomorrow is going to be a lot more free with my hitting. Same mindset – just attack, attack, attack.
Zverev, who had moved past Rafael Nadal’s ATP 500 match-wins record earlier in the week, had beaten Raphael Collignon (7-6 (10), 7-6 (2)), compatriot Yannick Hanfmann (6-3, 7-6 (4)) and Czech Vit Kopriva (6-3, 4-6, 6-2) to reach the semi-finals.
Fritz will face either German Daniel Altmaier or American Frances Tiafoe in Sunday’s final.
Fritz promised a freer approach in the final, having found the dynamic of playing a struggling opponent strangely inhibiting. “It’s odd playing matches like today, where you know your opponent’s struggling, because every mistake you normally don’t want to make becomes amplified and you end up playing a lot safer,” he said. “Tomorrow is going to be a lot more free with my hitting. Same mindset – just attack, attack, attack.”
