Taylor Fritz's encouraging start to the grass-court season continued as he registered yet another victory over Alexander Zverev in the Halle Open semi-finals, recovering from a set down to triumph 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 7-5.

French Open champion Zverev appeared to struggle with the hot conditions in Germany, with Fritz taking advantage to dump the home favourite out.

Fritz, who reached the Stuttgart Open final before losing to Ben Shelton last week, was on the back foot after being broken in game three of the opening set, but he struck back to love in game six, and a tie-break was then required.

It was Zverev that came through a tight breaker, but the heat then started to become a factor as he repeatedly dropped to his haunches between points in the second set.

Zverev desperately attempted to keep the points short where possible, but a single break in game nine – again to love – saw Fritz take the second set.

The players left the court before the decider, and the break seemed to benefit them as they both served imperiously, at least until the penultimate game.

With the set finely poised at 5-5, Zverev produced another error-strewn service game, with Fritz converting his third break point before serving the contest out to tee up a final clash with Frances Tiafoe or Daniel Altmaier. 

Magnificent seven for Fritz over Zverev

Though Zverev claimed his first major title earlier this month and will be one of the favourites at Wimbledon, owing to Carlos Alcaraz's absence, he simply cannot get the measure of Fritz.

Indeed, this was Fritz's seventh consecutive victory over Zverev, and he now leads their head-to-head in ATP Tour-level matches 10-5.

Zverev had won 10 straight matches ahead of Saturday's last-four clash, but Fritz outdid the big-serving German with 19 aces to 11, winning 76% of points on serve (Zverev was at 69%).

Fritz is now one win away from his sixth grass-court ATP title, with Novak Djokovic (eight) the only active player with more.

The American is also just the second man to reach the Stuttgart and Halle finals in a single season since 2015, when both events started to be held on grass courts. Roger Federer – a 10-time Halle champion – achieved that feat in 2018.