(Turin) American Taylor Fritz, 9e world champion and replacement for No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz forfeited through injury, qualified for the semi-finals of the ATP finals in Turin on Thursday by beating Quebecer Félix Auger-Aliassime (6e) 7-6 (7/4), 6-7 (5/7), 6-2 in 2:44.
Fritz, 25, is participating for the first time in the end-of-year tournament bringing together the eight best players of the season.
With this victory against Auger-Aliassime, the second in three games in Turin, he finished second in the Green group, behind the Norwegian Casper Ruud (3e), and therefore also qualifies for the last four.
Thursday, Fritz and Auger-Aliassime both presented themselves with a victory (against Rafael Nadal, 2e) and a loss (against Ruud). So woe to the vanquished.
Both big servers, they each held their faceoff during the first round without conceding a single break point.
Fritz quickly took the lead in the tiebreaker to lead 6-3, offer himself three set points and finish on the second, on his serve.
The 22-year-old Quebecer, who had never participated in the Masters either, got three break points at the start of the second inning. But Fritz kept his serve and the two players came to the tiebreaker again without conceding a break point.
But this time, it was the Canadian who came out on top to push the game into a decisive set.
Fritz got his first break point of the match in the sixth game, but he had to wait for an unforced error from his opponent in the fourth to finally earn the first break of the game and lead 4-2. The Canadian had cracked and the American won the last two games.