Struff takes on Tiafoe in the finals

Frances Tiafoe and Jan-Lennard Struff will compete for the title at the BOSS OPEN 2023 on Sunday starting at 3:30 pm. Tiafoe prevailed in a thrilling match against Hungarian qualifier Marton Fucsovics 6.3, 7-6 (11). Struff defeated the tournament's No. 4, Poland's Hubert Hurkacz, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, and has a chance to win his first ATP Tour title on Sunday. For Tiafoe it would be the third and already the second this season after Houston on clay.

Tiafoe continues to shape his first appearance on German soil to the liking of the fans at Stuttgart's Weissenhof. In the first set, the 25-year-old world number 12 quickly set the course for victory with an early break. The second set was much closer. The tiebreak in particular was not for the faint of heart. Fucsovics served strongly, but was unable to convert no less than six set points. Tiafoe struck ice-cold on his first match point and was celebrated by the enthusiastic crowd as the first finalist after 95 minutes. "That was crazy," the winner summed up the match aptly in the interview. "I didn't realize on the court how many set points he had. But I sensed he was nervous. I knew I had to keep at it. I didn't want to play a third set again, but I would have been ready for it."

In the final, Tiafoe will face German local hero Jan-Lennard Struff. The Warsteiner turned the match against Poland's Hubert Hurkacz in front of a sold-out crowd after losing the first set. "The crowd helped me a lot there, the atmosphere was gigantic," Struff said after the match. In the second set, Struff broke his opponent once and was able to hold on to the lead. It was a similar picture in the deciding set, when Struff took the serve from Hurkacz for 2-1 and successfully defended it. Struff even managed the second break to close out the set and match 6-3 - after 1:26 hours, Struff converted his third match point for his first BOSS OPEN final.

"The atmosphere here in Stuttgart is extraordinary," Struff thanked the crowd after the match. "Today it was packed, tomorrow probably too, that's awesome. It's a bit like playing Davis Cup for Germany." Struff has only good things to say about his next opponent: "He's a brutally good athlete and close to the top 10. He has a good touch, plays great angles and can read the game very well. Off the court, he's a fun guy - it's good to have a character like that on tour."

Tiafoe is well aware of the difficulty of playing a final in Germany against a German: "The stadium will be full and the people will root for Struff. I don't care, the main thing is that the atmosphere is great. Struff serves extremely well and it's difficult to break him on grass. But I don't care about the outside conditions, I will be ready and I want to win."

Doubles final starting at 12:30 p.m.

In doubles, the German pairing of Kevin Krawietz/Tim Pütz (GER/4) advanced to the doubles final. The two Germans prevailed over Rohan Bopanna/Matthew Ebden (IND/AUS/1) 7:6 (6), 6:7 (12), 10:4 in a true heart-stopping match and will meet Croatia's top doubles pair Mektic/Pavic on Sunday.