Fritz defeats De Minaur to knock Australian out of ATP Finals
The American beat Alex de Minaur 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 to end the Australian’s 2024 ATP Finals hopes in Turin
Taylor Fritz, ATP Finals, 2024 © FITP Photos
Taylor Fritz recovered from a one-set deficit to defeat Alex de Minaur 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 and eliminate the world No 9 from the 2024 ATP Finals.
The result also means that Jannik Sinner progresses to the last four in Turin, with the world No 1 only needing to take a set off Daniil Medvedev in the evening session match for Fritz to qualify alongside him in second place.
De Minaur came into this match knowing that anything other than a straight-set win would see him eliminated from the tournament. For much of the contest, it looked as though he was well on track to achieve that aim.
After an opening six games across which serve reigned supreme, it was De Minaur who made the first move in the seventh game, taking advantage of some missed first serves to sneak a break. He could not consolidate, though, as Fritz broke straight back in the eighth game to restore immediate parity.
But the Australian had already sensed frailties in the American’s usually rock-solid service games. De Minaur earned the decisive break as he struck again in the eleventh and penultimate game of the set before confidently serving out a one-set lead.
De Minaur continued to apply pressure on Fritz’s under-par serve throughout much of the second set, while holding onto his own relatively comfortably. Yet, a momentary lapse proved fatal for the Australian. In the tenth and final game of that middle stanza, De Minaur suddenly found himself 0-40 down. After saving the first two break points, Fritz then converted the third to clinch the set and knock De Minaur out of the 2024 ATP Finals.
With the energy somewhat sapped out of both the contest and the Australian, Fritz broke for a third time in the fourth game of the deciding set to seize a firm grip on proceedings, before sending down an ace four games later to ensure he has done all he can before the group’s final standings are determined this evening.
“It’s tough because even though I won the match, there wasn’t necessarily any moment where I changed too much or had a repeatable way to win from the baseline,” Fritz said in his on-court interview.
“He was all over me. What I did do a good job of in the second set was starting to find my serve, I started to serve much better. When I wasn’t finding my first serve, he was killing me all the time.
“I was able to come up with some good shots at some good times, play off some of his mistakes. But it was still incredibly tough.”
de minaur closes a frustrating season, while fritz faces anxious wait
De Minaur exits Turin with a decent performance to look back on, but has ultimately ended his season with three straight defeats in a disappointing end to a campaign hampered by injury in its latter months.
He will now turn his attention to recovering and rebuilding over the off-season before the new year kicks off in his native Australia in about six weeks’ time.
Fritz, meanwhile, continues to build on his thoroughly impressive recent hard-court form having reached a maiden Grand Slam final on home turf in New York two months ago.
The world No 5 faces a nervous wait to see whether he shall progress to the semi-finals in Turin. But the odds are in his favour, with Medvedev needing to defeat Sinner in straight sets in front of the world No 1’s home crowd in order for Fritz to be eliminated.
But stranger things have happened, and live sport is a curious beast.
All eyes now turn to the final match of the group this evening as Fritz and Medvedev await their fate.
