ATP Tour

De Minaur defeats Fritz in Turin, now needs Alcaraz favour

Alex de Minaur kept alive his Nitto ATP Finals qualification hopes and subsequently ended Taylor Fritz’s on Thursday in Turin, where he earned a 7-6(3), 6-3 victory against the American in the Jimmy Connors group.

De Minaur suffered a heartbreaking three-set defeat to Lorenzo Musetti on Tuesday night and knew he would have to overcome Fritz in straight sets if he were to have any chance of reaching the semi-finals at the prestigious year-end event.

In an impressive, attacking display, De Minaur dominated against a nervy Fritz to end the round-robin stage holding a 1-2 record. If World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, who has now qualified, beats Lorenzo Musetti on Thursday evening, De Minaur will join the Spaniard in the semi-finals. Musetti will qualify for the last four with victory against Alcaraz. Last year’s finalist Fritz also went 1-2 in the round-robin phase but is out.

"I have dealt with a fair bit of heartbreak recently, so it was good to finally get a win here in Turin," said De Minaur after earning his first Top 10 win of the season outside team events. "I have worked really hard so it was good to get some positive feedback or a positive reward for the hard work, so I am very happy with the performance."

De Minaur now leads Fritz 6-5 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series, with this the Australian’s first win at the Nitto ATP Finals, having gone 0-3 in 2024.

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The seventh seed had the chance to seal victory on Fritz’s serve at 2-5 when he moved to match point. The American held, but unlike on Tuesday night against Musetti, De Minaur kept his nerve on serve to triumph. Following his win, he raised his fist in celebration to the crowd, a stark contrast to the scenes just 40 hours earlier in the Inalpi Arena.

"It was a tough pill to swallow," De Minaur said on the Musetti loss. "I didn't do much. I didn't overthink today. I committed to what I needed to do. There were some tough moments out there but I continued to back myself. Whether it worked or didn't, I was going to leave everything out there today and I ended up with a really good match from the start to the end."

Fritz had fond memories in Turin, having reached the final last season. The sixth seed downed Musetti in his opening match at this year’s event before he lost to Alcaraz in three sets. The 28-year-old struggled throughout the one-hour, 35-minute clash against De Minaur and failed to properly recover after losing his serve early on. Fritz committed 33 unforced errors and won just 67 per cent of his first-serve points, lower than the 84 per cent he won against Musetti and 71 per cent against Alcaraz.

Fritz ends the season holding a 53-23 record, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. The American won titles on grass in Eastbourne and Stuttgart.