25-year-old Fritz is taking part in the year-end tournament for the first time, which brings together the eight best players of the season. With this victory against Auger-Aliassime, his second in three appearances in Turin, he took second place in the Green Group behind Norway’s Kasper Rud (3rd), and therefore also qualified for the last four.
Fritz and Auger-Aliassime both entered Thursday with a win (against Rafael Nadal, No. 2) and a loss (against Rudy). So woe to the losers! Both big servers held their own in the first round, not conceding a single break point.
Fritz quickly took advantage in the tiebreak to lead 6/3, conceded three set points and held serve in the second. The 22-year-old Canadian, who had also never participated in the Masters, had three break points in the second inning. But Fritz held his serve and the two players again went to a tiebreaker without conceding a break point. But this time the Canadian prevailed to push the match to a deciding set.
Fritz got his first break point of the match in the sixth game, but had to wait for an unforced error in the fourth to finally earn the first break of the match and take a 4-2 lead. The Canadian had broken and the American had won the last two games.
Source: Le Figaro
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