Fritz defeats Zverev in Halle semifinal, to face Tiafoe for title

American Taylor Fritz advanced to the Halle ATP 500 final after a hard-fought 6-7, 6-4, 7-5 victory over top seed Alexander Zverev. Fritz will now face his compatriot Frances Tiafoe for the title.

Zverev, the local favorite, aimed to build on his post-Roland Garros momentum. Fritz, however, came into the match having lost the Stuttgart final to Ben Shelton, whom he had previously eliminated in the Halle quarterfinals. The match saw Zverev take an early lead in the first set, breaking Fritz's serve for a 3-1 advantage. The American quickly responded, breaking back to level at 3-3. The set ultimately went to a tiebreak, which Zverev clinched 7-4 after a crucial error from Fritz.

The second set remained evenly contested with both players holding serve firmly. However, in the ninth game, Fritz secured a break point, taking a 5-4 lead before closing out the set 6-4 with his serve, forcing a decisive third set. The final set mirrored the previous ones until the score reached 5-5. At this critical juncture, Fritz broke Zverev's serve on his third opportunity to go up 6-5 and then sealed the match in the following game with his serve at 7-5, avoiding another tiebreak.

In the other semifinal, Frances Tiafoe, ranked world No. 26, comfortably defeated German wildcard Daniel Altmaier 6-1, 6-3 to set up the all-American final.