Carlos Alcaraz moved a step closer to world number one at the year-end ATP Finals tournament with a hard-fought 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-3 victory over Taylor Fritz in Turin on Tuesday.
The Spaniard, a five-time Grand Slam champion, fought back from a set down to claim his second consecutive win in the Jimmy Connors Group and within one victory of qualifying as élite round-robin performer with the coveted top rank for the second time in his career. He will clinch a year-end No. 1 ranking by beating Lorenzo Musetti on Thursday.
“I’m really happy that I could comeback and find my best tennis,” Alcaraz said. “We both played some good points and I just took the opportunities he gave me.”
Fritz snatched a tight 70-minute opening set in a tiebreak, only to find himself struggling to reach that level as Alcaraz’s aggressive baseline play started dictating the match. The Spaniard broke late in the second to force a decider, then got the key break in the sixth game of the third.
Alcaraz’s head-to-head lead over Fritz is now 5-1, but the American will have to beat Alex de Minaur on Friday if he hopes to progress out of group play.
