Defending champion Fritz advances to Stuttgart final

Final against compatriot Shelton

Fritz appeared relaxed after the semifinal and emphasized that the grass suits his game. "Gras passt zu meinem Aufschlag, es passt zu meiner Rückhand," he said. Looking ahead to the final, he added: "Es ist immer cool, den Titel zu verteidigen" and continued: "Es wäre wie schon im letzten Jahr mein erster Titel des Jahres - und so in die Rasensaison zu starten, das wäre großartig."

Muster as historical benchmark

Should Fritz triumph again on Sunday, he would be the first player since Austria's Thomas Muster to successfully defend the title in Stuttgart. Muster last accomplished this in 1995 and 1996; he later also became the French Open champion. The tournament in the Baden-Württemberg state capital is considered an important yardstick ahead of the grass-court Grand Slam at Wimbledon, which begins at the end of June.

Local fans had to do without Alexander Zverev. The Hamburg native withdrew from the tournament beforehand, citing the short break following his successes at the French Open in Paris. Instead, Zverev is beginning his grass-court season at the tournament in Halle in Westphalia. The German professionals Yannick Hanfmann and Jan-Lennard Struff also exited the singles early, both falling in the round of the last 16.

Hanfmann and Struff in doubles final

The two German players, however, have provided a positive surprise in doubles. Hanfmann and Struff have reached the doubles final, where they will face Stefanos Sakellaridis of Greece and Daniil Glinka of Estonia on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. The German-Greek-Estonian duo defeated the Croatian Nikola Mektic and Francisco Cabral of Portugal 6-2, 4-6, 10-5 in the semifinal, with the favored opponents failing to live up to their billing.

The Stuttgart tournament belongs to the ATP 250 category and, with Wimbledon in mind, is one of the central preparatory events on grass. For Fritz, who reached the final at the Australian Open this year, a title in Stuttgart would be his first tournament win of the season and an important signal ahead of the coming weeks on what is supposedly his ideal surface.

The final between Fritz and Shelton will be played on Sunday. Should Shelton, who entered the tournament as the top-seeded player, win, it would be his first title on grass ever. For Fritz, it is not only about another triumph, but also about historically following in the footsteps of Muster, the last successful title defender in Stuttgart.