Halle, June 19 (IANS) Taylor Fritz finally ended his run of heartbreak against Ben Shelton in 2026, saving a match point to battle into the semifinals of the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle, where he was joined by top seed Alexander Zverev after the German extended his winning streak to 10 matches on Friday.

Although the former World No. 8 suffered a loss to the 19-year-old at the Dallas Open final in February, he has now clinched a convincing victory in their rematch in the second round of the ATP 500 event in Germany. But this time on the grass. The victory, which took over four hours, saw an incredible tie-break in both the second and third sets.

“I do not want to experience losing a match to Shelton again,” Fritz exclaimed with huge relief on court, after losing to the World No. 29 in both the Dallas final in February and their previous week encounter in the Stuttgart championship showdown on grass court, only to reclaim a significant 6-7(5), 7-6(8), 7-6(3) hard-won win under two hours fifty minutes.

“It just happened with his chances being excellent in the other two matches that he won and my opportunities being even better here; I just put it into the back of my mind to capitalise on big moments, and thankfully, I could go through.”

The serve-heavy contest featured no breaks of serve. Fritz crushed 24 aces and battled to save all four of his service opportunities, while Shelton hit 15 aces without a break-point confrontation. He was one shot from losing at the tie-break of the second set, but when 6-7 against him, after his forehand flew wide.

He later went on to level at a set, after holding serve with no issues, and then clinched the set via his dominant first serve, winning with a 196 mph serve and making very efficient use of Shelton’s unforced errors to get the win.

With this win, Fritz has recorded the first over a top-10 player since the ATP Finals in November, when he trumped Lorenzo Musetti. And it marks his fifth victory at this tournament after dispatching former world champion Stan Wawrinka on Monday and Italian compatriot Luca Nardi in his first round match. He has now maintained a quest for his maiden title this year.

He is set to face Alexander Zverev, the winner in previous matches, in the semifinal round. The 2021 champion was too powerful in his quarterfinal match-up against Belgian wildcard Raphael Collignon, winning in straight sets of 7-6(10), 7-6(2) after a really tough match on the serve side. But in important moments, the German always knew how to keep cool, and he is looking forward to facing his countryman.

“I believe it was really a good quality tennis match between us, and with both players showing incredible skill on their serves, but from the ground-stroke, I was playing better in the important moments to overcome him.

“My performance has been on a rise for some weeks, since Roland Garros, which I have won as my career’s first grand slam, and now I have 10 wins under my belt and leading with the ATP Tour, so it is all going very well. Last year, it was difficult for me against Fritz, and I was also struggling. However, I feel as if my form is much better than then. But for that to really pay off will be difficult in my semifinal against Fritz due to his dominance over me in matches, with a head-to-head of 5-9. Nevertheless, I look to playing my very best against him”.

–IANS

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