Taylor Fritz reached the final of the
BMW Munich Open and ensured he would reclaim the American No. 1 spot after being displaced by
Ben Shelton a week earlier. The 26-year-old American yielded ground to his compatriots after falling in the opening rounds of the Miami Open and Monte-Carlo Masters.
Fritz dropped out of the top 10 in January of this year after 14 months in the privileged group, where he held the American No. 1 position. However, former Indian Wells champion lost that position after Ben Shelton claimed the ATP 250 Houston Open title a couple of weeks ago, defeating
Frances Tiafoe in the final.
Fritz wrests the American No. 1 title from Shelton:
Currently, the rankings show Shelton as the world No. 14, followed by Fritz (15th) and
Tommy Paul (16th). Further behind are Tiafoe (23rd) and
Sebastian Korda (26th). However, Shelton only remained the leader for one week, as Fritz's strong performance this week places him in his 13th ATP final of his career and his first on clay.
Fritz will seej his 8th career title, against local hopeJan-Lennard Struff
Fritz secured a comfortable victory over Alejandro Moro Cañas in his opening match (6-3, 6-1) and then had to battle to the end to eliminate the 6th seed
Jack Draper by 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(1). In the semifinals, he faced no difficulties against the 2019 champion
Christian Garin (6-3, 6-4) before setting up a final showdown on Sunday against the local favorite
Jan-Lennard Struff.
Regardless of the outcome on Munich, Fritz will appear on Monday as the new world No. 13 and American No. 1. Shelton (15th) and Tommy Paul (16th) will be further behind in a tight contest they will have in the coming weeks to determine the top-ranked American player.