For the first time in the tournament’s history, the TERRA WORTMANN OPEN will feature an all-American final. After Taylor Fritz had prevailed against Alexander Zverev in three close sets in the first semi-final, Frances Tiafoe followed him into the final on Saturday evening. The world number 26 defeated the German surprise semi-finalist Daniel Altmaier convincingly 6-1, 6-3.
Altmaier, who was contesting the first 500-level semi-final of his career, was unable to build on his outstanding performances of the previous days. As recently as Friday evening, he had produced his best tennis in a sensational victory over Daniil Medvedev. A day later, however, things went far less smoothly against Tiafoe.
The US star, who had already knocked two top-ten players out of the tournament – Flavio Cobolli and Felix Auger-Aliassime – lived up to his role as favourite right from the start. On his own serve, he didn’t concede a single break point in the first set, whilst breaking Altmaier’s serve twice himself. After just 25 minutes, he had already converted his first set point to win 6–1.
However, Altmaier was not about to give up without a fight. Right from the first game of the second set, he shone with several spectacular points and pumped his fist towards his box. Shortly afterwards, however, Tiafoe secured his next break following a volley error by Altmaier, taking the score to 4–2. The DTB star, who will return to the world’s top 60 after the tournament, was unable to create any further break points thereafter. After 1 hour and 13 minutes, Tiafoe converted his first match point.
However, the tournament is not yet over for Daniel Altmaier. In the doubles – played immediately afterwards – the Kempen native will team up with Joao Fonseca to battle it out against Ben Shelton and Flavio Cobolli for a place in the final.
