Taylor Fritz is savoring doing the dirty work these days.
Now, Fritz stands one win from cleaning up on clay for the first time.
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.
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