Alex de Minaur fought back from an agonising defeat to Lorenzo Musetti to register a comprehensive win over Taylor Fritz at the ATP Finals.
The Australian was superior throughout in the 7-6(3), 6-3 victory and withstood a late rally by the American to keep his hopes alive of reaching the semi-finals at the season-ending tournament.
His relief was evident as he roared with delight and gestured to the crowd to make some noise, before signing ‘Finally’ on the camera lens, looking almost shell-shocked at the magnitude of the win.
“I’ve dealt with a fair bit of heartbreak recently, it was good to finally get a win here in Turin,” he said afterwards. “I’ve worked really hard so it was good to get some positive feedback or a positive reward for the hard work, so very happy with the performance today.”
The seventh seed lost in three sets to Musetti on Tuesday night having served for the match in the final set, and said afterwards that a series of tight losses from winning positions, including that match, were “mentally killing” him.
He also lost his opening encounter with Carlos Alcaraz, having led 5-3 in the first-set tiebreak, and defeat to Musetti left him on the brink of elimination.
The loss to Musetti “was a tough pill to swallow”, he added. “I didn’t do much, I didn’t overthink today, I just went out, committed to what I needed to do. There were some tough moments out there but ultimately I continued to back myself, whether it worked or it didn’t, I was going to leave everything out there.”
Aware that he needed to see off Fritz in straight sets to stand any chances of qualifying from the Jimmy Connors group, de Minaur produced a relentlessly attacking display and took advantage of the American’s nerves to record his first win at the Finals, having lost all three of his matches in 2024.
He had chances to break Fritz at 5-2 in the second set and although the sixth seed held serve, de Minaur avoided collapsing like he did against Musetti and served out the match with two venomous aces, including on match point.
His chances of progressing to the semi-finals are now out of his hands. If Musetti beats Alcaraz in Thursday’s second match the Italian will qualify as top of the group, with Alcaraz second and de Minaur eliminated. A win for top seed Alcaraz, who has already qualified, would see de Minaur join him in the last four.
When his on-court interviewer explained how he could progress, de Minaur replied, “Is that actually true? I don’t trust you right now.
“I kind of made my peace, I came onto the court with that sort of mindset - enough worrying about circumstances or the what ifs, I just focused on what I needed to do. Whatever happens, happens [tonight].”
Second seed and defending champion Jannik Sinner has already qualified from the Bjorn Borg group, with two wins and no losses so far. Felix Auger-Aliassime will face Alexander Zverev in a straight shoot-out for the remaining qualifying place, with Ben Shelton already eliminated.
