Sport|TennisCarlos Alcaraz rallies to defeat Taylor Fritz at ATP Finals in TurinSpaniard’s victory moves him to within one win of beating out Jannik Sinner for yearend number one ranking.
World number one Carlos Alcaraz came under extreme pressure before overcoming American Taylor Fritz 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-3 in a thrilling round-robin match at the ATP Finals, leaving the Spaniard on two wins from two.
World number one Carlos Alcaraz came under extreme pressure before overcoming American Taylor Fritz 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-3 in a thrilling round-robin match at the ATP Finals, leaving the Spaniard on two wins from two.
Last year’s finalist Fritz played the tennis of his life on Tuesday as both men served up the best encounter of the season-ending championships so far, but the American ran out of steam as Alcaraz turned on the style and took the deciding set with ease.
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Fritz began to tire, and Alcaraz broke to lead 4-2 in the final set before wrapping up the win in two hours and 48 minutes by serving out to love.
“It was pretty tight. I was struggling more than him in the first set,” Alcaraz said. “I wasn’t serving well, and I think he was pretty comfortable from the baseline, from everywhere.”
Taylor Fritz took top-ranked Alcaraz to a third-set decider in Turin [Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters]
World number one Carlos Alcaraz came under extreme pressure before overcoming American Taylor Fritz 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-3 in a thrilling round-robin match at the ATP Finals, leaving the Spaniard on two wins from two.
Alcaraz closes in on number one ranking
Alcaraz will be assured of a semifinal place if Alex de Minaur defeats Lorenzo Musetti in the evening match. He also needs one more victory to guarantee the year-ending world number one spot and will face Musetti on Thursday.
“I try not to think about it to be honest,” Alcaraz said.
“Obviously, it’s going to be a really big match for me. I’ll try to control the emotions, to control myself.”
Advertisement Tuesday’s clash was a battle from the opening game as Fritz took nine minutes to hold after hitting three aces but also faced two break points. The American forced three break points in the next game before the pair traded breaks.
Fritz raced into a 5-2 lead in the tiebreak and smashed two aces to take the set. At 2-2 in the second, Alcaraz was rattled. His drop shots that earlier had beaten Fritz began to fall short, but after losing advantage five times, the Spaniard held on.
Alcaraz got lucky with a shot that hit the net but crept over in the final game of the second set and broke to take the match to a third, where Alcaraz outclassed an exhausted Fritz.
“I was really relieved after the win because of everything I went through during the match,” Alcaraz said.
“I wasn’t feeling the ball as well as I was in the first round, but I’m really happy that I found a way to come back.”
Alcaraz, right, shakes hands with Fritz after a hard-fought win in the group stage [Marco Bertorello/AFP]
Based on reporting by Al Jazeera.
