Taylor Fritz is into the Halle semi-finals as he earned revenge over Ben Shelton with 6-7(5) 7-6(8) 7-6(3) in Halle.
After having Championship points saved in Dallas before losing the title to Shelton in February, Fritz gained his revenge by saving a match point in Halle.
In a match that was decided by three tiebreaks, Fritz was cool under pressure winning the second set tiebreak 7-8 before claiming the win.
After the win Fritz admitted he didn’t know if he could take another defeat to his compatriot, “I don’t know if I could have taken losing another one of those to Ben,” Fritz explained to the ATP website.
“When I say that, I mean just doing everything but winning the match, because the funny thing about this one is he had the chances. In the other two he won, I probably had the better chances. I kind of just had it in my head capitalising on the big chances and I am happy to get through that.”
Fritz will now renew his rivalry with Alexander Zverev after the Roland Garros champion also overcame a tight contest.
The German defeated Raphael Collignon 7-6(10) 7-6(2) to book his place in the final four and was relieved to seal victory, “I think it was a really high-level match from both of us and I think the serving was unbelievable,” Zverev explained.
“But when I had the chances, I was playing well from the baseline. In the important moments in the first-set tie-break I kept my nerve and won that. I am very happy with the straight sets win.”
Fritz leads the head-to-head 9-5 and leads the grass court series 2-1 heading into Saturday’s showdown.
The other semi-final will see Daniel Altmaier take on Frances Tiafoe or Felix Auger-Aliassime after the German overcame Daniil Medvedev in three sets.
