By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Saturday, April 20, 2024

 

No. 3-seeded Taylor Fritz blitzed Chilean Cristian Garin 6-3, 6-4 to fire into his first Tour-level clay-court final in Munich today.

Photo credit: BMW Open Facebook

Taylor Fritz is savoring doing the dirty work these days.

Now, Fritz stands one win from cleaning up on clay for the first time.

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Slamming his serve to all areas of the box, Fritz blitzed Chilean Cristian Garin 6-3, 6-4 to fire into his first Tour-level clay-court final in Munich today.

After a couple of days of dank, drizzly weather, conditions in Munich were drier today.

Dictating the first strike off his first serve, Fritz won 31 of 35 first-serve points and did not face a break point in a clean 79-minute victory.



In the end, Fritz snapped an 0-6 clay-court semifinal streak with his biggest dirt win.

"It is really cool [to reach the Munich final]," Fritz said. "I have been really close to a clay-court final a couple of times.

"It would be awesome to get a title on a clay court."

Delray Beach champion Fritz will play for an eighth career title and second of the season against German Jan-Lennard Struff in tomorrow's final.

The fourth-seeded Struff was dynamic doing double duty.

First, Struff wrapped up a 7-5, 6-4 win over Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Returning to court for the semifinal, Struff thrilled home fans dismantling two-time defending-champion Holger Rune 6-2, 6-0 to power into his second career Munich final.

The 2021 Munich finalist Struff tore through 10 games in a row to wrap up a 45-minute thrashing.



The 33-year-old Struff, who was runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz in the 2023 Madrid final, will be highly motivated playing for his first Tour-level title before enthusiastic home fans.

World No. 28 Struff has split two prior meetings with Fritz; the BMW Open final will be the first time they square off on clay.