Stuttgart Open: Tiafoe through to his first-ever grass court final
Frances Tiafoe won against Marton Fucsovics 6-3, 7-6 (11) on Saturday. He’ll play the winner of the match between German Jan-Lennard Struff and Pole Hubert Hurkacz, the No 4 seed, for the title
American Frances Tiafoe, the No 3 seed, reached the final of the Stuttgart Open by winning against Hungarian qualifier Marton Fucsovics 6-3, 7-6 (11) at Tennis Club Weissenhof on Saturday.
Tiafoe, ranked No 12, will play the winner of the match between German Jan-Lennard Struff and Pole Hubert Hurkacz, the No 4 seed, next.
It will be his seventh career ATP Tour final, but his first on grass.
It was also the first time he had played Fucsovics on grass. The two had met three times before, with the Hungarian winning the first two matches, on clay in Geneva in 2018, then on hard court in Doha in 2020. The American won their most recent meeting, on the Flushing Meadows hard court in 2020.
The American defeated Czech Jiri Lehecka (7-6 (2), 6-4) and Italian Lorenzo Musetti (6-7 (6), 7-6 (4), 6-2) ahead of his victory.
In the previous rounds of the Stuttgart tournament, Fucsovics, ranked No 86, beat Canadian Denis Shapovalov (3-6, 6-3, 6-4), Chinese Yibing Wu (6-4, 4-6, 6-4) and American Taylor Fritz, the second seed (6-4, 7-5).
Stuttgart ATP250, other semi-final result (Tennis Club Weissenhof, grass, EUR 718.410):
- Jan-Lennard Struff vs. Hubert Hurkacz