Jannik Sinner and Taylor Fritz are moving on to the semifinal round of the Nitto ATP Finals after securing victories to close round-robin group play Thursday in Turin, Italy.
Sinner, the World No. 1 from Italy, breezed past Russian No. 4 seed Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-4 to finish 3-0 in the Ilie Nastase Group. Fritz, the fifth-seeded American star, rallied for a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Australian seventh seed Alex de Minaur to go 2-1, besting Medvedev’s 1-2 record.
Sinner and Fritz will compete in the semifinals Saturday, with their opponents to be determined Friday when the John Newcombe Group concludes play.
Fritz will face the winner of that group and Sinner will face the second-place player. Germany’s Alexander Zverev currently leads the John Newcombe Group, with Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, Casper Ruud of Norway and Andrey Rublev of Russia also in contention.
Fritz played the first match Thursday and did not know he would advance until Sinner defeated Medvedev. Had that result gone the other way, there would be a three-way tie at 2-1.
Fritz won 52 of his 62 first-service points (83.9 percent) and saved 4 of 6 break points while breaking de Minaur three times. Fritz trailed 27-26 in total winners but committed fewer unforced errors along the way (33 to de Minaur’s 35).
“It’s tough, because even though I won the match, I feel like there wasn’t necessarily any moment when I feel like I had a repeatable way to win from the baseline, to be honest,” Fritz said. “He was all over me. What I did a great job of was towards the end of the second set, I really started to find my serve. I was serving much better and that allowed me to just stay with it and create more pressure on his service games.”
Fritz was asked how he was feeling physically after three matches against tough opponents.
“I think a lot of us are pretty beat up,” he said. “But if I’m in the semis … I’ve got energy to give.”
Indeed, Fritz was headed to the semis once Sinner took care of Medvedev in a mere 73 minutes. Sinner benefitted from Medvedev making twice as many unforced errors as him (28-14) despite a 17-12 edge in winners.
“Me and Daniil, we know each other very well,” Sinner said. “So, every time we step on court, we try to change something tactically. I felt like I was ready to see what he was going to do (Thursday).”
Sinner took an 8-7 edge in his career head-to-head series with Medvedev.
–Field Level Media
