Taylor Fritz advanced to his second semi-final of the season Friday when he rallied past sixth seed Jack Draper 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(1) at the BMW Open.
The 26-year-old who American struck the ball with conviction and hammered 18 aces, according to Infosys ATP Stats, en route to a two-hour, 15-minute victory dropped the opening point of the deciding-set tie-break before winning seven consecutive points to seal his spot in the last four.
“Tough conditions today. Rainy, cold, windy, hailed a little bit. I fought through it,” Fritz said. “I had a really good attitude and I really wanted to win today and it showed.”
Victory will also see Taylor Fritz overtake Ben Shelton for American’s top ranked player after his compatriot spent just one week as the country’s No.1 player.
A semi-finalist last year in Munich, Fritz will next meet 2019 champion Cristian Garin, who upset top seed Alexander Zverev 6-4, 6-4. The 27-year-old Garin improved to 2-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Zverev, whom the Chilean also beat in Munich during his title run five years ago.
By beating the World No. 5 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Garin earned his first Top 10 victory since beating Casper Ruud last year in Indian Wells.
Fritz and Garin will meet for a third time Saturday to break a 1-1 tie in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.
Second seed Holger Rune continued his quest for a third consecutive Munich title by defeating Swiss qualifier Marc-Andrea Huesler 6-4, 7-6(3). The 20-year-old saved all four break points faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats.
Rune, No. 12 in the PIF ATP Rankings, is 11-0 at the ATP 250 in Munich. Up next for the Dane is fourth seed Jan-Lennard Struff or fifth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime. Struff led Auger-Aliassime 7-5, 3-1 when their match was suspended due to bad light.
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