Stockholm (Sweden), Nov 14 (IANS) Taylor Fritz of the United States powered past the challenge of Lorenzo Musetti of Italy in straight sets in the semifinals at the Stockholm Open on Friday and set up a summit clash with Thiago Agustin Tirante.

The top seed and No. 10 player in the ATP Rankings delivered a quality all-around display to sink third seed Musetti 6-4, 6-2 and reach his sixth tour-level final of 2026, his personal-best tally in a single season. Fritz converted three of four break points he earned against Musetti to claim a Tour-leading 15th win indoors this year in just 63 minutes.

With his victory in Sweden, Fritz avenged his defeat to Musetti in the final at Lyon a couple of weeks back and reduced his ATP head-to-head deficit against the Italian to 4-5.

Washington ATP event winner Fritz, who will travel to Turin as second alternate for the ATP Finals after Stockholm, is aiming to maintain his record of winning at least two ATP Tour titles every year since 2022.

“I played really well,” Fritz said. “I just lost to Lorenzo in a final not too long ago, so I knew I had to change a lot of things and play a certain type of way. I executed what I wanted to do really well.”

Standing between Fritz and his second ATP Tour title for the year will be Tirante, who earlier shook off some match-closing jitters to hit a personal milestone at the Swedish ATP 250 event.

The 25-year-old Argentine overcame fourth seed Alejandro Tabilo 7-5, 7-6(1) to reach his first ATP Tour final. Tirante failed to serve out the match at 5-4 in the second set but rebounded superbly to dominate the subsequent tie-break and become the first Argentine finalist at an indoor tour-level event since Diego Schwartzman in Antwerp in 2021.

“You always have nerves in matches, and playing a semi-final in front of a lot of people is very special for me,” Tirante said. “At important moments you start [to feel it]. I think I didn’t play a good game [at 5-4], but I kept believing in myself and my team to close it out in the tie-break.”

The No. 51 player in the ATP Rankings, Tirante, has now earned a personal-best 31 tour-level wins in 2026. He is now 1-2 in ATP Tour semifinals, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index.

“I am very happy I am going to play my first ATP final,” Tirante said. “Actually, I am very happy to play it here. This is my third semi-final, and my first one was in Bastad, so I think Sweden [is a good place for me].”

Tirante won his only previous ATP head-to-head meeting with Fritz, 7-5, 6-3, in Montreal in August.

–IANS

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