Less than a week after meeting in the final at Stuttgart, Americans Ben Shelton and Taylor Fritz will have a rematch on grass in the Terra Wortman Open in Halle, Germany.
Shelton, the No. 3 seed, earned a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 victory over countryman Ethan Quinn on Thursday, while the fifth-seeded Fritz was a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Fabian Marozsan of Hungary. The pair now meets in the quarterfinals Friday after Shelton earned a three-set victory over Fritz on Sunday for his third title of the season.
Shelton
won his sixth consecutive match across two events, while Fritz won a dominating 93.8% of his first-serve points (30 of 32) to advance past Marozsan.
French Open winner and top seed Alexander Zverev of Germany also advanced with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory over countryman Yannick Hanfmann. Raphael Collignon of Belgium reached the quarterfinals with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 rally over Mattia Bellucci of Italy.
HSBC Championships
Qualifier Rinky Hijikata of Australia rallied for a 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7) victory over No. 2 seed Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic and advanced to the quarterfinals on grass at Queen's Club in London.
Hijikata saved five of eight break points and took advantage of 41 unforced errors from Lehecka before winning on his fourth match point.
No. 8 seed Tommy Paul also advanced with a 7-6 (5), 6-3 victory over Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands, while extending his winning streak at the event to seven matches. Paul won the tournament in 2024 but did not defend his title due to injury.
No. 4 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain moved on with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Corentin Moutet of France. In a match that was suspended by darkness, Hamad Medjedovic of Serbia and Ugo Humbert of France were tied at one set apiece.
--Field Level Media
