Fritz beats De Minaur, advances to 2024 ATP Finals knockout rounds

Taylor Fritz closed out his group-stage campaign Thursday at the 2024 ATP Finals with a gutsy 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 victory against Alex de Minaur. Then he faced an anxious wait to learn his fate in Turin.

The American's 2-1 record held up when world No. 1 Jannik Sinner beat Daniil Medvedev in the round-robin finale, sending Fritz through to the semifinals alongside the Italian. Fritz defeated Medvedev in straight sets in his opening match but was beaten by Sinner and ultimately finished in second place in the group.

He is through to the ATP Finals semis for the second time in three years.

After battling for more than two hours in the first three-set match of the entire singles tournament, Fritz made it clear he was ready for more.

"I think a lot of us are pretty beat up," Fritz said of his physical health at the end of a busy season. "But if I’m in the semis, I’ve got energy to give."

Fritz will learn his semifinal opponent on Friday. He could still face any of the four players in the opposite group: Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev or Casper Ruud.

The American was pegged back by a fast start from De Minaur, and while he never felt he truly took over the match, he did just enough to walk away with the critical win: "It’s tough, because even though I won the match, I feel like there wasn’t necessarily any moment when I feel like I had a repeatable way to win from the baseline, to be honest," said Fritz.