After a week of high-quality tennis at ATP Munich, two top-30 players will battle in the final for a trophy. Coming off a 6-2 6-0 win over Holger Rune, Jan-Lennard Struff will look to win his first ATP tour in front of a home crowd. On the other side of the net, Taylor Fritz is one win away from claiming the first clay court title of his career. LWOT predicts the upcoming match below.
ATP Munich Final Prediction:
Taylor Fritz vs Jan-Lennard Struff
Head-to-head: 1-1
Taylor Fritz has only dropped one set en route to the final this week; he had to battle past Jack Draper in a quarterfinal stretching into a third-set tiebreaker. He followed up that win with a strong showing against Christian Garin, a clay court specialist. Arguably, Jan-Lennard Struff has looked even better all week. Yet to drop a set, he defeated Felix Auger-Alliasime and Holger Rune in back-to-back days. The German’s win over Rune, the two-time defending champion, lasted just 45 minutes. Struff notably won 95 percent of points on his first serve, a tough statistic to replicate on Sunday.
Both players rely on big, heavy serving and will use this weapon all match long. Neither player is stranger to tiebreaks and pressure-filled moments, so expect the pair to bring their best towards the tail-end of sets.
It’s hard to find any part of Struff’s game that is a liability after his impressive semifinal display, but the German still notably is yet to win an ATP title. Ranked No. 28, he’s one of the highest-ranked ATP players yet to snag a trophy on tour. He’ll have to shake off the nerves and use the home crowd to his advantage. Fritz also struggled on break point conversions in his semifinal win, winning just 2 of 11 break points. Against a big server, he’ll have to capitalize on the few opportunities he’ll likely get.
It’s hard to go into an ATP tour final when 0-3 at that stage, as is the case with Struff. But with the home crowd behind Struff, it could be time for the German to claim an elusive first title on Sunday. Expecting a nail-biter, with Fritz’s lack of clay court experience showing in the latter stages of the match.
Prediction: Struff in 3
Main Photo Credit: Dan Hamilton – USA TODAY Sports
