Tennis news 2024: Alex de Minaur eliminated from ATP Finals after ...
Alex de Minaur has been eliminated from the ATP Finals after he failed to capitalise on a one set lead against American Taylor Fritz, going down 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.
De Minaur went into the match knowing that anything other than a straight-sets win would see him exit the tournament, and early on the Aussie looked like was going to achieve that objective, but a lapse in the second set opened the door for Fritz, who now has two wins.
Both players held serve for the opening six games but de Minaur struck in the 11th game with a break, before serving out a one-set lead.
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In the second frame, with the match locked at 5-4 to the American, de Minaur found himself 0-40 down.
After saving the first two break points, Fritz then converted the third to clinch the set and knock De Minaur out of the 2024 ATP Finals. De Minaur was eliminated without any wins in his finals debut.
Alex De Minaur eliminated. Getty
"It's tough because even though I won the match, there wasn't necessarily any moment where I changed too much or had a repeatable way to win from the baseline," Fritz said in his on-court interview.
"He was all over me. What I did do a good job of in the second set was starting to find my serve, I started to serve much better. When I wasn't finding my first serve, he was killing me all the time.
"I was able to come up with some good shots at some good times, play off some of his mistakes. But it was still incredibly tough."
Top-ranked Jannik Sinner became the first player to advance to the semi-finals, Fritz, meanwhile, needs to wait to find out if he's in or out.
Sinner was assured of a spot in the last four after winning his opening two matches and plays Daniil Medvedev later. Last year, Sinner lost the final to Novak Djokovic, who pulled out injured this year.
Medvedev is still in contention and could get to two wins by beating Sinner.
The top two finishers in each group advance to the semi-finals. The Sinner-Medvedev match will determine whether the other qualifier is Fritz or Medvedev.
“If I don’t get through it’s going to be tough because I did play two very good matches and lost to the best player in the world,” Fritz said of his defeat to Sinner.
"But if that happens I’m happy with my week and I’ll leave with my head held high. But I’ll definitely be checking in on the score tonight.”
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Alexander Zverev leads the other group ahead of Casper Ruud, Carlos Alcaraz and Andrey Rublev.
Fritz improved to 4-5 in his career against De Minaur and could pull level next week in a quarter-final matchup between the United States and Australia at the Davis Cup Finals.
“I feel like he typically plays better in the team environment. I also feel like I play better in the team environment," the American continued. "It’s still going to be a nightmare to play him next week, too.”
