Fritz downs Zverev in Stuttgart to secure first title of year

Stuttgart, Germany: Taylor Fritz defeated Alexander Zverev in straight sets in a rain-hit final in Stuttgart on Sunday to win his first ATP title of the season.

The American eased to a 6-3, 7-6 (7/0) victory despite being held up by a lengthy rain delay early in the second set. Fritz has now won his last five meetings with Zverev and is set to climb to fourth in the world rankings, a place behind the German.

“It was not so great a clay season, so to come here and start the grass season off perfectly, I am super happy to get the title and to do it here,” said Fritz, who did not lose a service game in the entire tournament.

Fritz lost in the first round of the French Open last month to Daniel Altmaier, ending a clay-court season in which he won just three matches in four tournaments. Last year´s US Open runner-up bounced back, though, with his first trophy since winning in Eastbourne 12 months ago, also on grass.

Top seed Zverev is still waiting to win the first grass-court title of his career and he has never even reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon, which gets under way on June 30. Fritz moved into a one-set lead courtesy of a break in the eighth game. He missed the only break point of the second set but raced through the tie-break, winning the last 11 points of the match.