Fils Stuns Ruud To Reach Hamburg SFs, Faces Zverev Saturday

At the Hamburg European Open in quarterfinals action 19-year-old Arthur Fils shocked top seed Casper Ruud 6-0, 6-4.

The stocky French teen dropped just five points on his first serve and saved the lone break point he faced in his best career win by ranking.

“I’m really happy about it. Of course, it was a tough match,” said Fils on court. “I had good tactics with my coach before the match. We talked before the match, that I have to believe I can win. Of course, I’m coming on court, I want to win, so I tried to play my game and I played my best today, so I’m happy about it.”

Fils improves to 1-2 against Top 10 players. This was his meeting with a Top 5 player, and he moves into already his 4th career semifinal.

Up next for the youngster is a date with German star Alexander Zverev who overcame another French teen, 19-year-old Luca Van Assche 6-3, 6-4.

Serbia’s Laslo Djere bounced No. 3 seed and defending champion Lorenzo Musetti 7-5, 6-3. He’ll now take on Zhang Zhizhen who advanced to his first ATP level semifinal with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Daniel Altmaier.