Nitto ATP Finals—Turin, Italy
Fritz Defeats de Minaur at 2024 ATP Finals in Turin
American Taylor Fritz won his second match at the ATP Finals in Turin, Italy on Thursday, defeating the always motivated Alex de Minaur 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.
In a baseline duo that lasted two hours and 18 minutes, Fritz struck 26 winners, six aces, won 84 percent of his first serve points and broke serve on three occasions.
Improving to 4-5 against de Minaur in lifetime meetings, Fritz also defeated No. 4 seed Daniil Medvedev earlier in the week.
Fritz elevated his opens of reaching the semifinals on Saturday in the knock-out stages.
De Minaur, who fell to 0-3 in Group Action, was playing in his first-ever Tour Finale. He gained entry into the event after defending champion Novak Djokovic withdrew with an ongoing knee injury.
The Australian ends his year with two titles, one final in Rotterdam, Netherlands and seven quarterfinal finish at Tour events.
Elsewhere, the day’s second match will feature home-country favourite and top seed Jannik Sinner going for his third win of the week against Russian Daniil Medvedev. Winning seven of his last eight meetings against Medvedev, Sinner continues to look like the favourite to take the title this week.
If Sinner defeats Medvedev, the Italian and Fritz will reach the semifinals.
Alcaraz featured on Friday
No. 3 seed and four-time Major winner Carlos Alcaraz will attempt to strengthen his changes for a semifinal position at this season’s year-end event when he faces inform German and No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev on Friday.
Currently standing at 1-1 in the tournament, Alcaraz lost his first match to No. 6 seed Casper Ruud in straight sets, before defeating No. 8 seed Andrey Rublev in two sets on Wednesday.
Zverev and Alcaraz have played on 10 occasions, with the pair winning five matches each. Zverev thrives in indoor conditions and will be tough to defeat for the Spaniard.
Friday’s second match will feature an eighth meeting between Ruud and Rublev. While Rublev leads the pair’s head-to-head 5-2, Ruud has been in better form as of late and has a victory over Alcaraz in Turin.
Rublev is effectively out of the event with a current 0-2 record, while Ruud still has a chance of making the semifinals after standing at 1-1 in the John Newcombe Group.
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