ATP Finals: Fritz denies De Minaur in final league match, boosts semis hopes

Turin (Italy), Nov 14 (IANS) Taylor Fritz quelled a battling performance from Australia's Alex de Minaur as he finished strong en route to his three-set victory in the second round of the group stage of the 2024 ATP Finals at the Inalpi Arena, here on Thursday.

The American on Thursday overcame De Minaur 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 to boost his chances of reaching the semifinals of the prestigious season finale for the second time. After a strong start from De Minaur, Fritz prevailed after two hours, and eight minutes in the first singles match of the week to go to three sets in this Italian city.

Fritz eliminated event debutant De Minaur with his comeback victory, but he must wait for Thursday evening’s clash between Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev to find out if he will progress further. If Medvedev wins in straight sets against Sinner, he will join the World No. 1 in the semifinals. If he wins in three sets or loses, Sinner and Fritz will advance.

Fritz had to dig deep to stick with De Minaur, who produced his best tennis of the week so far for the first set and a half. As well as being typically resilient in long rallies, the Australian also showcased plenty of power and he outhit Fritz by 12 winners to seven en route to the opening set, the ATP reported.

The big-serving Fritz struggled to shake off De Minaur on serve and could manage an ace only in the seventh game of the second set. That game proved to be decisive in swinging the match the American’s way, however. He saved a break point at 40/Ad and then made his move on return in the 10th game when he broke De Minaur’s serve to clinch the set.

From there on, Fritz maintained his newfound momentum and he rarely looked like letting slip his lead after he broke De Minaur’s serve again for 3-1 in the deciding set. At 5-3, the fifth seed served out the match emphatically to love to improve to 4-5 in the pair’s ATP head-to-head series.

In the doubles section, Harri Heliovaara of Finland and Henry Patten of England maintained their chances of winning the title as they finished undefeated in the Mike Bryan Group. On Thursday, the fifth-seeded pair defeated Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands and Nikola Mektic of Croatia in three sets, winning 4-6, 6-3,12-10 in an early afternoon start at the Centre Court.

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