2022 ATP Finals, Day 1: Fritz powers past Nadal in dream debut; Ram also wins

Dictating play throughout with his serve and forehand, the American put the match beyond doubt by converting on his sixth break point of a marathon game late to move ahead 5-1 in the second set.

The dominant victory moved Fritz ahead of Casper Ruud and into first place in the Green Group. Ruud, a finalist at the 2022 US Open, defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime, 7-6(4), 6-4, earlier on Sunday.

As the first American singles player to compete at the year-end event since John Isner in 2018, Fritz is in a strong position to match Jack Sock's  2017 run to the London semifinals. Pete Sampras was the last American singles champion at the season finale, in 1999 in Hanover, while James Blake reached the 2006 final in Shanghai.

Fritz was not the only American winner on Day 1 in Turin.

In the doubles event, Rajeev Ram and partner Joe Salisbury also made a winning start in a 6-3, 6-7(8), [10-8] thriller against seventh seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos.

After seeing two match points go begging from 6-4 in the second-set tiebreak, Ram and Salisbury regrouped to win the match in dramatic fashion, claiming the final two points of the match tiebreak from 8-8.

The reigning US Open champions are bidding to return to the Turin finals after finishing as runners-up in 2021 in the event's first year in Northern Italy.

Day 2 in Turin sees the third American in the field, Austin Krajicek, take the court for his ATP Finals debut. He and Croatian partner Ivan Dodig are seeded No. 5 in the doubles event, and will face No. 4 seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic in their first round-robin match.