Sinner Faces Fritz, Medvedev Interested? Sick Alcaraz Loses

Home favorite Jannik Sinner will look to all but lock up a spot in the semifinals at the ATP Finals in Turin on Tuesday.

The third day of round robin play at the ATP’s year-end event is headlined by the year-end No. 1 squaring off for a fourth time against American Taylor Fritz in a rematch of the US Open final. Fritz, who also won in straight sets on Sunday, would move into a semifinal position with a win of his own, however the Californian is down 1-2 in their head-to-head.

“I’m excited because I think after I played him at the Open, I played Carlos the next week at Laver Cup, I played Novak right after in Shanghai,” Fritz said. “I feel like those three matches I learned a lot about what I kind of needed to I guess improve on, get better at, if I want to hang with those guys. I think I’ve done a good job since then kind of working on those things and improving.”

Trying to stay alive are Daniil Medvedev and Alex de Minaur. Medvedev, a former champion in 20202, took some heat for his effort in a loss to Fritz on Sunday while de Minaur is making his debut.

Medvedev leads 6-3 but the Australian is 3-2 in their last five. Medvedev is now just hoping for the year to be finished.

“100%,” Medvedev said Sunday on if he’d like the year to be over. “It’s the first time I say it.

“But now I’m tired to fight it. I’m tired to fight against something that doesn’t depend on myself. I’ll see how it goes. Today actually I had my chances. I’ll have them the next matches. If it doesn’t work out, I go on holiday. I’m happy.”

Alexander Zverev eased past Andrey Rublev 6-4, 6-4. So far, through two days and eight total matches (4 singles, 4 doubles), all have ended in straight sets.

Tuesday, Carlos Alcaraz suffered a stunning first loss to Casper Ruud 6-1, 7-5. Ruud has lost all four previous meetings with the Spaniard and had come into the event far from form. But today, Alcaraz

“I think it helped getting a good start,” Ruud said. “Already in the first game I was facing break points in my serve. Kind of good for me that it didn’t start off with a break. Then I was able to keep it. I won most of the close games in the first set, kind of all of them, and I saved a lot of break points.

“For me this year I’m coming into the tournament with probably the least confidence of all the players in terms of match wins and my recent form, especially on the indoor hard court. Has not been easy to find match wins at all for me.”

Alcaraz said he’s been fighting some sort of stomach sickness.

“A few days before coming here, I got sick at home,” Alcaraz revealed. “The days that I was practicing here, I was feeling okay. Not pretty good, but okay. I could play. I could feel that I can get into the rallies in the practice. Obviously, in the matches is totally different.

“But today I didn’t feel well. In this morning, I feel uncomfortable in the stomach. After long rallies today, I couldn’t feel well. I don’t want to, you know, say because I don’t want to sound like an excuse. But if I feel bad, I feel bad. It is what happened today.”

TUESDAY ATP FINALS TURIN SCHEDULE
CENTRE COURT start 11:30 am
[5] M. Purcell (AUS) / J. Thompson (AUS) vs [7] H. Heliovaara (FIN) / H. Patten (GBR)

Not Before 2:00 pm
[4] D. Medvedev vs [7] A. de Minaur (AUS)

Not Before 6:00 pm
[2] M. Granollers (ESP) / H. Zeballos (ARG) vs [3] W. Koolhof (NED) / N. Mektic (CRO)

Not Before 8:30 pm
[1] J. Sinner (ITA) vs [5] T. Fritz (USA)

You Might Like:
2024 ATP Finals Groupings: Alcaraz, Zverev Looking Strong For SFs
2024 ATP Finals Day 2: Alcaraz v Ruud, Zverev v Rublev; Fritz Upsets Medvedev, Sinner Wins
2024 ATP Finals Field Set With Sinner, Alcaraz, Zverev The Favorites
2024 Shanghai Masters Day 9: Sinner v Medvedev, Alcaraz v Machac In QFs; Djokovic Wins
2024 Shanghai Masters Day 10: Djokovic, Fritz QF Favorites; Machac Spoils Alcaraz-Sinner SF