STUTTGART, Germany (Reuters) -German top seed Alexander Zverev took out American third seed Ben Shelton with a 7-6(8) 7-6(1) victory in the semi-finals of the Stuttgart Open on Saturday to set up a showdown with Taylor Fritz.

Alexander Zverev reached the final of the Stuttgart Open where he faces nemesis Taylor Fritz in a duel of top seeds in his bid for a second title of the year on Sunday. Top seed Zverev saved a set point in the first set of his semi-final on Saturday against another American,

This win marked Zverev’s first appearance in a grass-court final in eight years. The last time he accomplished that was at the ATP 500 event in Halle in 2017, where he lost the championship match to Roger Federer. The year before, the German star also reached the final there but was defeated by Florian Mayer.