ATP Finals: Taylor Fritz battles past 'incredibly tough' Alex De Minaur ...

Taylor Fritz sent Alex De Minaur crashing out of the ATP Finals in Turin, after securing an "incredibly tough" 5-7 6-4 6-3 win on Thursday.

Fritz, who himself has to wait on the clash between Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev to find out if he makes the semi-finals, recovered from an early blip before sealing victory without conceding a break in the second and third sets.

"It's tough because even though I won that match, I feel like there wasn't necessarily any moment where I changed too much, where I had a repeatable way to win from the baseline, to be honest," Fritz said after the match.

"He was all over me, what I did a great job of was in the second set, towards the end I started serving much better.

"That allowed me to stay with it and create more pressure on his service games because when I wasn't making first serves he was just killing me from the baseline.

"It just gave me a little bit of comfort to stay in the match, and not be under so much pressure all the time.

"I was able to come up with some good shots at some good times, play off his mistakes but it was still incredibly tough."

Both exerted dominance on their serve in the early exchanges, trading holds in the opening six games - with De Minaur exhibiting his typically quick feet, while Fritz powered through his service games, twice holding to love.

But De Minaur, needing a straight-set victory for a shot at remaining in the Turin event, found the first breakthrough - coming out on top in a scintillating 30-shot rally at 30-30, before completing the break.

Fritz, however, responded in hasty fashion - levelling the scores with an immediate break back - courtesy of some wide, long and into-the-net striking from the world No. 9.

The pair traded holds again before De Minaur forged a 6-5 advantage, putting pay to another poor Fritz service and converting on his second break point.

The Australian wrapped up the crucial set, rattling home a stylish ace to hold to 15 and keep his hopes of making the final four alive.

But De Minaur, who had started in lightning fashion, found a far more resilient Fritz in his path in the second set and ultimately crashed out of the tournament after conceding the set.

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Far more assured on his serve, Fritz displayed a staunch resilience without giving up a break - finding the breakthrough with the set finely poised at 5-4, ending De Minaur's run after opening defeats to Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner.

The set deficit seemingly knocked the wind out of De Minaur's sails, as his resistance was quickly broken with Fritz finding a 3-1 lead in the decider, the American pounced on the second of three break points to boost his hopes of further participation in Turin.

While De Minaur was resistant in holding for the remainder of the match, he could not threaten the galvanised Fritz on his serve, the pair trading holds until an eventual 6-3 conclusion for the American - who must now wait on the evening match to find out if he will make the semi-final.

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