(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Alex de Minaur kept alive his chances of reaching the last four of the ATP Finals Thursday after beating Taylor Fritz in straight sets 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 in Turin.
Australia's De Minaur had to win in straight sets in order to have any chance of making it out of the Jimmy Connors Group, and he now needs Carlos Alcaraz to beat Lorenzo Musetti later on Thursday in order to book his place in the semi-finals.
Should Alcaraz beat local hero Musetti, as he is widely expected to, seventh seed De Minaur will take second place in the group after avoiding a sixth straight defeat at the Finals.
Hard court specialist De Minaur won his 43rd match of the season on the surface, the most on the men's tour, and was too much for Fritz once he prevailed in the first set tie-break.
“Couple days ago was one of the toughest days I've had in my career. I was in a very, very dark spot. I could tell you that I hated the sport,” De Minaur told reporters.
“Here we are two days later and I'm feeling great about myself. It's incredible.”
De Minaur revealed that personal battle after defeat to Musetti on Tuesday helped his mindset coming into the match with Fritz.
“Regardless of the result today, I had made peace with myself. That was a big, big moment. I knew the way I wanted to play. I was going to commit to it from the first point to the last,” he said.“I was okay with the result not going my way. I had made peace with that. I just wanted to play my way.”
Defeat for Fritz in one hour and 35 minutes ended the American's participation in this year's edition of the prestigious end-of-season tournament.
“Today was probably the match that I'm not super happy about,” Fritz said.
“I thought the other two matches I played well, did a lot of things well that maybe I hadn't been doing well. I thought the first two matches I returned exceptionally well... There's some positives to take. Obviously, right now I feel pretty upset.”
Alcaraz is now guaranteed a spot in the semi-finals but still needs to beat Musetti to both secure first place in the group and claim the year-end number one ranking for the second time.
If Musetti beats Alcaraz and joins Jannik Sinner in the next round it will be the first time two Italians have reached the semis in the history of the tournament.
Sinner reached the last four of the after beating Alexander Zverev 6-4, 6-3 to qualify from the Bjorn Borg group with a match to spare.
World number one Sinner is bidding to retain his title at the prestigious end-of-season tournament and he cruised into the semi-finals in front of a delighted crowd in Turin. The 24-year-old was not at his best and struggled with a hand problem at the start of the match but still had more than enough to see off Zverev for the fifth straight time.
“I've known Sasha for a long time now and we changed our tactics a bit today, fortunately I only needed a break in each set to win. I'm very happy obviously, let's see how we go in the next match,” said Sinner on court.
“I've played well in recent weeks so I came into the tournament feeling good. We want to go as far as possible but also to play the right way.”
Zverev hasn't beaten Sinner since the 2023 US Open, being destroyed by the Italian in the semi-finals of the recent Paris Masters, and again the German couldn't handle the four-time Grand Slam champion.
Sinner was brutal on his serve, rattling in 12 aces, and once he took the first set with his third break point of game 10 he never looked back de Minaur ATP Finals Taylor Fritz Jimmy Connors

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