At the hot temperatures in Stuttgart, Alexander Zverev prevailed in a narrow semi -finals against Ben Shelton and reached the final. A fear opponent is waiting there.
A victory separates from the first lawn title of his career: In the semi-finals of the ATP tournament in Stuttgart, the top seed Zverev beat the American Ben Shelton with 7: 6 (10: 8), 7: 6 (7: 1) on Saturday afternoon (June 14th). “I’m super happy that I am here in the final. Maybe I’m doing it in front of Wimbledon so that I only play on Mallorca Golf,” Zverev said after his success at the on-court interview: “I like the underground, and maybe today I treat myself to the pool as a reward instead of going to the gym.”
On Sunday he meets the American Taylor Fritz, who has recently proven to be a kind of fear opponent. Fritz sat down 6: 4, 7: 6 against the Canadian Félix Auger-Aliaassime throughthe one in the round before Youngster Justin Engel from the tournament had promoted. Because of the uncertain weather forecast, the organizers presented the final at 12:00 p.m.
Zverev has to go into the tiebreak twice
In the semi -finals, Zverev and Shelton showed themselves extremely strong in their serve games at 35 degrees and plump sun. Accordingly, the decision in the Tiebreak was only logical. Zverev only gave two set balls with his own serve to transform the fifth with a service winner.
The second sentence was similar, whereby Zverev had the better returns ready. He had the first two match balls 5: 4, but the Shelton was both warded off. The decision was therefore made again in the clear tiebreak. After two hours, Zverev converted his fourth match ball by ASS.
“I am happy to be here in the final,” said Zverev, recalling that his last lawn final in the Westphalian Halle had been eight years ago. This year the Australian Open finalist in Munich celebrated its only tournament victory. At the end of April, on sand in the final against Shelton. His compatriot Fritz, on the other hand, won the last four duels against Zverev, including last year in Wimbledon and the US Open.
Stuttgart for Zverev as Wimbledon preparation
After a freely in the first round, Zverev was on Thursday Against the Frenchman Corentin Moutet and in the quarter -finals on Friday Against Shelton’s compatriot Brandon Nakashima enforced. The Stuttgart tournament is endowed with 751,630 euros. There was no longer a domestic winner at the traditional tennis event since Michael Stich in 1991.
Zverev uses the competition in the Baden-Württemberg state capital to prepare for the prestigious highlight in Wimbledon (from June 30). The 500 tournament in Halle/Westfalen, which started on Saturday, also becomes training under competitive conditions for the 28-year-old. From his 24 titles on the tour, however, he has not yet celebrated any of the unpopular green.
Prize on Sat., June 14, 2025 7:30 p.m., SWR Aktuell Baden-Württemberg, SWR BW
