Carlos Alcaraz qualified without playing the final match for the ongoing ATP Finals semi-finals on an indoor hard court in Turin (Italy) after winning two sets 7-6 (3), 6-3 over Australia’s Alex de Mignol and American Taylor Fritz on Thursday.
The Murcian will be able to play without too much nerve in tonight’s match against Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti. If he wins, he will return to number one in the world rankings and will be certain to return to number one. Jimmy Connors groups up to avoid heavy favoriteslocal Jannik Sinner, in the penultimate round.
The first game of the day in the Piedmontese capital was a survival game for Alex de Mignard, who had missed out on Tuesday’s win against Musetti. Although he lost in three sets against Alcaraz, he needed to win in two sets against Fritz, who had shown a great level so far.
The Australian, who had the most powerful “black beast” on the circuit, broke the curse with his first win at the ATP Finals, having lost his previous five matches. He was almost always in charge and played with confidence. For Fritz, who wasn’t very well. As well as his last two games.
When service was quickly discontinued, the Americans already realized that the crash would not be an easy task. Still, they looked for opportunities in the middle of the first set to keep the match balanced, but in the end the match was decided in a tiebreak. Although de Minaur missed a set point earlier, he remained solid in “sudden death” (7/3) and extended his belief in keeping his options open.
The Australian player settled on the court and began to dominate Fritz, who was a little nervous. Fritz could see how difficult the game had become after conceding another early break and a blank. This time, Oceanic held on to his serve, and the American saved two match points with a quality serve of 5-2 and then took a 15-30 lead, but was forced to bid farewell to last year’s runner-up in the tournament. De Minaur now needs Carlos Alcaraz to beat Musetti Ranked 2nd in the group.
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