Turin [Italy], November 10 : Taylor Fritz kickstarted his campaign at the ATP Finals, defeating fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev on Sunday.
The American secured a 6-4, 6-3 win over Medvedev, making a fine start to his second appearance at the season-concluding tournament. Fritz capitalised on an error-filled first set from the Russian, during which he hit seven double faults.
Speaking after the match, Fritz said as quoted by the ATP website, "The serve was a big part of it for sure (he won 85 per cent (33/39) of first-serve points), according to Infosys ATP Stats. "He (Medvedev) is such a good returner. You can make a lot of first serves, but if they are not very high quality, he just puts so many returns in the court," added Fritz.
"It was huge for me, I hit a lot of lines, a lot of spots to start out games. I got out of a lot of service games with no pressure. Some of the ones we got tight in, I was either able to grind through the long rallies or get myself some free points," he added.
Fritz, who reached the semifinals on his ATP Finals debut in 2022, stood firm in the face of a strong comeback from Medvedev in the early stages of the second set. After saving all three break points he faced, the fifth-seeded star pounced in the sixth game to move into an eventually unassailable lead.
"My first time [at the Nitto ATP Finals], I was the alternate, no one really expected much of me here," added Fritz, who improved his win-loss record to to 50-21 on the season.
"So, I was playing with house money, no pressure. This time, I am fifth, and I really want to make it out of the group stage. I'm putting more expectation on myself to do better, I am just a batter player and I am super happy with how I played today," he concluded.
After levelling the ATP Head-to-Head record against Medvedev by 1-1, Fritz moved to 1-0 in the Ilie Nastase Group. The other contenders awaiting in group stages are world number one Jannik Sinner and Nitto ATP Finals debutant Alex de Minaur, who will clash next on Monday.
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