Taylor Fritz, who lost the final of the last tournament, defeated Italian Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 6-4 in a dominant display from the American player to win his opening match in the final round of the ATP Finals in Turin on Monday.
Musetti, who came on as a late substitute after seven-times champion Novak Djokovic withdrew, started well but began to feel tired despite a large crowd at Inalbe Stadium, and Fritz proved unstoppable once his serves were on.
The turning point came in the third game when Fritz saved four break points, hitting two aces in the process, then breaking Musetti for a 3-1 lead. The Italian, who defeated Love in his first service game, faced break points for the rest of the first set.
“I did a great job at the beginning of the match to get myself out of trouble and save some break points,” Fritz said.
“I’m really happy. I thought I did a lot of things really well.”
Musetti, who lost to Djokovic in a nearly three-hour final in Athens on Saturday, was able to clinch four break points in the second set, but two double faults in the next game gave Fritz the decisive break.
The second group serves the main class
Fritz served nine aces in the second set, serving on three occasions, but the crowd came alive when Musetti went 30-0 up with the American serving to decide the match, but Fritz responded with two aces to seal a stunning victory.
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Fritz added: “I played well in the entire second set and had a lot of break point opportunities that I couldn’t take advantage of.”
“I’m really glad I was able to serve there and not come back to ruin it.”
Musetti’s first appearance at the ATP Finals ended in defeat, but he managed to entertain the waiting Italian crowd with some clever shots to put Fritz home and follow up to win the point.
The Italian also tried an underarm serve but it didn’t work, while Fritz controlled the game from the baseline and is continuing his impressive form in the ATP Finals, having reached the semi-finals in 2022.
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Top seed Carlos Alcaraz defeated Alex de Minaur 7-6 (5), 6-2 on Sunday in the other match of Jimmy Connors’ group, and all four men in the group will play each other in a round-robin format, with the top two advancing to the semi-finals.
The Italian fans will be back in force later on Monday when Jannik Sinner begins his title defense
Against Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in Bjorn Borg’s group.
(Tags for translation) Taylor Fritz vs Lorenzo Musetti ATP Finals result
