TURIN: Taylor Fritz closed in on the last four of the ATP Finals on Thursday after coming from behind to beat Alex De Minaur 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.
American Fritz came through an entertaining match in Turin to send home Finals debutant De Minaur, who by winning a set handed Jannik Sinner a semi-finals spot.
Sinner heads into his last match in the Ilie Nastase Group against Daniil Medvedev knowing that he is through no matter what, with a win ensuring him of top spot.
Fritz meanwhile will join Sinner in the knockout stage as long as the world number one wins at least one set in front of his home fans.
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“If I don’t get through it’s going to be tough because I did play two very good matches, won both those matches and lost to the best player in the world so If I don’t make it though it’s tough,” said Fritz.
“But if that happens I’m happy with my week and I leave with my head held high. Yeah, I’ll definitely be checking the score!”
Sinner is hunting his first Finals title after an exceptional season in which he won seven tournaments, including his first Grand Slam victories at the Australian and US Opens.
He lost last year’s final to Novak Djokovic, who pulled out of the tournament injured this time around.
Sinner entered the season-ending event already assured of becoming the first Italian to top the ATP end-of-year rankings.
However, he has been dogged by controversy after twice testing positive for traces of the steroid clostebol in March.
He was initially cleared by the International Tennis Integrity Agency but at the end of September the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed, seeking a ban of up to two years.
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