US stars reach quarterfinals
On Wednesday, the first round of 16 matches took place in bright sunshine. Taylor Fritz, the tournament's No. 2 seed, and Ben Shelton, the No. 3 seed at the BOSS OPEN, confidently advanced to the next round. For Jan-Lennard Struff, however, the second round was the end of the road.
Shelton prevailed in a duel between two great servers against French qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert 7-6 (4), 7-5. While the American was able to fend off all four break points against him, he managed the only break of the match with his fifth break point at 5-5 in the second set. In the end, it was enough, and Shelton served out the match with ease.
For Shelton, it was his first appearance on grass since his round of 16 defeat at Wimbledon a year ago against Jannik Sinner. “I'm happy to be playing on grass again. It's a completely different game on this surface.”
On the Stuttgart grass, it was the American's first victory at the second attempt, after losing to Australian James Duckworth in his first appearance last year. “I'm really happy to have won my first match here in Stuttgart.”
In the quarterfinals on Friday, Shelton will face Czech Jiri Lehecka, who knocked local hero Jan-Lennard Struff out of the competition 6-4, 7-5.
Fritz: “Nice to be back here”
Taylor Fritz also advanced t0 the quarterfinals. The tournament's No. 2 seed and BOSS brand ambassador defeated France's Quentin Halys 6-3, 7-6 (6). “I came out and played well and broke serve right in the first game,” Fritz explained after the match. "Other than that, not much changed throughout the match. He served very well, I served well. The important thing was that I saved his two break points in the second set."
This sets up a rematch in the quarterfinals with Hungary's Marton Fucsovics, whom Fritz lost to in two sets at the same venue and in the same round in 2023. However, Fritz had already made his Stuttgart debut in 2016. Back then, he lost to Roger Federer in the second round after a tough battle in three sets. “That was ten years ago and it makes me feel pretty old,” joked Fritz. “I've improved a lot since then. It's nice to be back here.”
Fucsovics completed France's disastrous day in the round of 16 with a 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory over Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech. For Fucsovics, the victory marked his fourth quarterfinal appearance in an ATP grass court tournament – all coming in Stuttgart. After reaching the semifinals in Bucharest in March, it is also the Hungarian's biggest success of the season.