Fritz topples ill Zverev in semi as German's Halle wait drags on
· Yahoo Sports
Taylor Fritz dashed Alexander Zverev's hopes of a grass title in front of home German fans after winning 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 7-5 in the Halle semi-final on Saturday.
The fifth seed pounced towards the end of third set against Zverev, who was struggling with his diabetes. It will be an all-US final after Frances Tiafoe beat Daniel Altmaier 6-1, 6-3 in the other semi-final in western Germany.
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Recent French Open champion Zverev, gunning for a second Grand Slam title at Wimbledon starting next Monday, has had a good work-out in the warm-up.
But the top seed is still without the Halle title despite four consecutive semi-finals and two lost finals in 2016 and 2017.
The German was on a 10-match winning streak including Paris, but Fritz was too good on one of his favourite surfaces given Zverev's ill-health and the scorching weather.
"I had massive problems with my blood sugar levels today," said Zverev, who has had type 1 diabetes since childhood.
"Unfortunately, the monitor showed a high blood sugar reading just before the match, even though I felt as though my blood sugar was extremely low. I injected far too much insulin."
Zverev won a tight first set despite needing treatment but let Fritz back in to set up a tense decider. At 5-5, Fritz was 40-0 up on Zverev's serve and eventually grabbed the break before serving out the match.
Fritz, on a seven match-winning run against the world number three, said: "I felt like I played a good tie-break [in the first set] and I felt I got a little unlucky with some bounce and he played some really good points and took one on my serve and that was it.
"I felt like he was struggling with something. I am not sure what it was. I felt like I felt better than he did so that was what I needed to tell myself to go to work."
Fritz has titles on grass from Stuttgart and Eastbourne over the years and is looking for his first triumph this season on Sunday.