Taylor Fritz set himself up for his second hardcourt title on American soil this season with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over J.J. Wolf on Saturday in the semifinals of the Atlanta Open.
The top-seeded Fritz broke Wolf’s serve in the second game of the match and then saved two break points the rest of the way while winning the first set. Fritz then broke Wolf again to take a 6-5 lead in the second set before serving out the victory.
“It was really solid; I served well the whole match,” Fritz said, who had 13 aces compared to five for the eighth-seeded Wolf. “Whenever I was in trouble, I played a lot of good points. I just did what I was supposed to do and didn’t really give him much.”
Fritz will take aim at his sixth career title when he faces Aleksandar Vukic of Australia on Sunday.
Vukic rallied back to defeat No. 7 seed Ugo Humbert of France 3-6, 7-6 (2), 7-5.
Hamburg European Open
No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany advanced to the final with an easy 6-2, 6-4 victory over Arthur Fils of France.
It is the first title match for Zverev since May of last year at Madrid and it comes in his hometown. He has 19 career titles. The last German player to win at Hamburg was Michael Stich in 1993.
In the final, Zverev will meet Laslo Djere of Serbia, who was a 6-3, 6-2 winner over China’s Zhizhen Zhang in the other semifinal.
Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag
Sixth-seeded Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland defeated the second seed, Italy’s Lorenzo Sonega, in straight sets in the first semifinal on Saturday in Croatia.
The 6-3, 6-4 win sends Wawrinka into Sunday’s final against Alexei Popyrin. The Australian outlasted another Italian, seventh-seeded Matteo Arnaldi, 6-7 (2), 7-5, 6-3 later in the day.
–Field Level Media
