Alcaraz Finds Another Gear In Turin, Battles Past Fritz At ATP Finals

Carlos Alcaraz
Carlos Alcaraz (photo: Giampiero Sposito/FITP)

TURIN/WASHINGTON, November 11, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz continued his chase to clinch the ATP Year-End No. 1 when he took on No. 6 Taylor Fritz Tuesday afternoon in the third day of the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. 

Coming into the final week of the ATP Tour‘s regular season, the 22-year-old Spaniard needs to win all three of his round-robin matches or reach Sunday’s final to guarantee himself of the No. 1 finish of the season for the second time in his career after achieving his first ATP Year-End No. 1 in 2022. 

So far, so good for Alcaraz, who defeated Fritz, 6-7 (2), 7-5, 6-3, in two hours and 48 minutes to improve to 2-0 in the Jimmy Connors Group, following his opening victory over No. 7 Alex de Minaur of Australia on Sunday.

However, it was anything but easy against Fritz. Alcaraz had to find another gear in the deciding set after grinding through and splitting the first two sets.

“It was pretty tight, I was struggling more than him in the first set,” said Alcaraz during his on-court interview following his 69th victory of the season, which is tops on the ATP Tour. “I wasn’t serving well, and I think he was pretty comfortable from the baseline, from everywhere.”

Although Alcaraz brought a 4-1 head-to-head advantage into his match against the American No. 2, Fritz won their most recent indoor match at the Laver Cup in September and was hungry for another win. This time, from the beginning of their sixth tussle, it was match on.

The two competitors fought through a nine-minute, 18-point first game that included six deuces, in which Fritz fought off two break points to hold his serve. Although Alcaraz broke for an early 2-1 lead, Fritz remained vigilant and broke back right away. For the remainder of the 70-minute opening set, which was decided by a tiebreaker won by Fritz 7-2, there was very little margin for error. However, it featured plenty of hard-hitting exchanges by both competitors, who combined to play 104 points.

Next, at 2-all in the second set, Alcaraz saved two break points and escaped with a lengthy 22-point hold for a 3-2 lead that stretched across 14 tension-filled minutes and included eight deuces. Fritz countered with a love hold that was over in little more than a minute. It was that kind of match, one filled with extremes. Soon, though, Alcaraz broke Fritz for the second time in the match to win the 59-minute set 7-5 as their battle reached the two-hour, 10-minute mark.

Now, with the momentum shifted in his favor, Alcaraz kept the pressure on Fritz and broke him to go ahead 4-2 in the final set. Finally, he closed out the victory on his fourth match-point opportunity after Fritz netted a fourth-shot backhand return to end the contest. It came after Fritz prolonged the final outcome by saving three match points in the eighth game.

“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 and find weakness from him.”

By the end, Alcaraz had punched 47 winners while making 37 unforced errors, while Fritz put up 38 winners – including 14 aces – but also committed 39 unforced errors. Alcaraz hit nine aces, won 74 percent (61 of 82) first-serve points and saved eight of the nine break points he faced. He broke Fritz’s serve three times in 11 tries and outpointed his opponent 127-115.

During his post-match news conference, Fritz said that he thought he did a lot of things well in the match, “especially the first two sets. I think I executed on a lot of the harder things that I wanted to do and kind of almost let it get away from me on maybe some of the things that should be a bit easier to do.

‘I think a couple big points I did that, hit good returns, hit deep balls, had the ball that I wanted. Just didn’t do enough with it sometimes. He plays incredible defense, anticipates well, passes well. I have to make sure that those put-aways are taken care of.”

Musetti remains alive after dramatic comeback win

In the evening session, No. 9 Lorenzo Musetti of Italy held off No. 7 Alex de Minaur of Australia, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, in two hours and 47 minutes of highly-entertaining and dramatic tennis to remain in contention for a semifinal berth this weekend. It was a match that both players needed to win in order to keep their hopes alive of advancing out of group play. 

Musetti (1-1), one of two new entrants at this year’s edition along with American No. 1 Ben Shelton, came in looking to achieve his fourth consecutive win over de Minaur, which would earn the Italian No. 2 his first Top-10 win on hard courts this season. 

Meanwhile, de Minaur (0-2) aimed to be the second Australian man after Lleyton Hewitt to record a win at Nitto ATP Finals in this century. Hewitt won 13 ATP Finals matches, most recently in 2004.

As it happened, de Minaur dominated many of the longest rallies during the match, such as a miraculous 31-stroke marathon in the eighth game of the third set, that he won, while Musetti did better when the points were shorter. Combined, the two competitors played a total of 200 points and each scored 100. It was that close.

Musetti rallied from 3-5 down in the final set – seemingly out of it – to pull out an improbable victory, his 45th of the season. He broke de Minaur to pull even at 5-all in the final set, then rode the support of cheers and energy from the 13,000-strong Inalpi Arena crowd – most of them Italian fans – to victory after the Sydneysider saved a match point. Musetti won on his second match-point opportunity with an emphatic – and euphoric – cross-court passing shot winner, then showed his emotions.

By the conclusion, Musetti had become the third Italian after Jannik Sinner and Matteo Berrettini to win an ATP Finals match. He amassed 22 winners to overcome 28 unforced errors, compared to 34 winners – including 10 aces – and 44 unforced errors by de Minaur. Musetti converted three of 12 break points, while de Minaur was two for five.

“I think today at a certain point of the match I was really struggling physically,” Musetti said during his on-court interview afterward. “Alex raised the level and intensity. I was struggling to find solutions. But then with a big heart, with big passion for this game … I don’t know from where …  I started to feel better and to play better. The support of the crowd is literally amazing. I have to thank them all.”

Around Inalpi Arena

In a match-up of unbeaten doubles teams, Italy’s Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori defeated US Open champions Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina, 7-6 (4), 6-4, in one hour and 34 minutes. By winning in straight sets, the seventh-seeded Bolelli and Vavassori (2-0) qualified for Saturday’s semifinals from the Peter Fleming Group. They have won all four of the sets they’ve played.

The winners of four ATP Tour titles this season and seven overall as a team, Bolelli and Vavassori combined to hit eight aces, won 87 percent (40 of 46) of their first-serve points, and saved all five break points they faced from Granollers and Zeballos. They outpointed the Spanish/Argentine duo 68-58.

“This year I think we came here more prepared, more focused,” Bolelli said during his team’s post-match news conference. “The crowd is unbelievable.

“I think we played two really good matches. Especially today I think we play even better than the first one. Yeah, great atmosphere. The crowd is pushing us every point. We try to do our best every day.”

Vavassori added: “I’m trying to raise the crowd always in a respectful way, but trying to bring more energy. I think also doubles needs that because it’s very fast. I think people also enjoy looking at doubles live.”

In the other doubles match, with elimination looming for one of the teams, top-seeds Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool of Great Britain took out defending champions and No. 6 seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz of Germany, 7-6 (9), 6-2, in one hour and 22 minutes.

By winning, Cash and Glasspool (1-1 this week) clinched Year-End ATP Doubles No. 1 honors with their victory over the Germans (0-2), in which they saved three set points during the 20-point first-set tiebreaker. 

With seven titles already won this season, the British duo are attempting to become the second team in the past 10 years to win eight after Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic of Croatia won nine in 2021.

Tuesday’s ATP Finals results

Wednesday’s ATP Finals order of play

By the numbers

Italy’s Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori are the second Italian doubles team to play in Nitto ATP Finals history, after Bolelli and Fabio Fognini in 2015. Currently ranked No. 7 in the PIF ATP Live Doubles Rankings, they will finish in the Top 10 for the second-straight year after finishing No. 5 last year.

“Quotable …”

“Yeah, he’s tough to beat anywhere, especially here. Started off amazing. Never looked back really. From the first point to the last, he was, yeah, amazing today. Toughest guy to beat here.”

– No. 8 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, during his post-match news conference Monday after losing his opening match to No. 2 Jannik Sinner of Italy.

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