Top 4 battle for place in final
In the semifinals, the top stars of the BOSS OPEN will battle it out for a place in the final: Zverev, Fritz, Shelton, and Auger-Aliassime are all spotless.
In the first semifinal at 12 noon, Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime will face off against Taylor Fritz of the US. Fritz leads 2-1 in their head-to-head record, but the last match between the two went to the 24-year-old Canadian. That match was played at the United Cup in January of this year. All matches between the two have been played on hard court so far, and the semi-final at the BOSS OPEN will be their first duel on grass. Fritz, number 2 in the tournament and brand ambassador for title sponsor BOSS, knows what to expect: “A lot will depend on the serve,” said Fritz, who took revenge in his quarterfinal against Hungary's Marton Fucosovics, who had defeated him at the same venue two years ago.
Auger-Aliassime ended the winning streak of German young star Justin Engel in the quarterfinals. In his 7-6 (3), 6-3 victory, the 24-year-old proved too tough for the 17-year-old from Nuremberg.
Zverev has his sights set on his first Stuttgart final
In the second semifinal, local hero Alexander Zverev, the tournament's number 1 seed, will face Ben Shelton, the number 3 seed, not before 2 p.m. Despite a training week held at the same time, the Hamburg native looked quite confident in his first two appearances and has not dropped a set so far. “It's always fun when you win,” Zverev said at the winners' press conference. “I played better today than yesterday, but the first match on grass is always difficult. Everything just worked better today, especially my serve.” Zverev had no problem with the extremely hot conditions: “It's been warm all week. I didn't really have a problem with it. And with the crowd behind me, it's always nice to play in Germany.”
Shelton was equally confident in his quarterfinal match and apologized to the crowd afterwards: “The conditions were so fast today and my serve was better. Sorry to the fans that there weren't many rallies.” By reaching the semifinals, Shelton also secured his first entry into the world's top 10. “If that's really true, it would be a huge milestone for me,” Shelton said, a little incredulous, when he was told the news during the winner's interview. "I'll have to see it with my own eyes on Monday. Looks like Stuttgart is a good place for something like that. If I remember correctly, Frances Tiafoe did the same thing here a few years ago.“ At the same time, he sent a challenge to Zverev: ”Under these conditions, I'm hard to beat here. I want to carry this momentum forward."