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Alex de Minaur kept alive his chances of reaching the last four of the ATP Finals Thursday after beating Taylor Fritz in straight sets 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 in Turin.Australia’s De Minaur had to win in straight sets in order to have any chance of making it out of the Jimmy Connors Group, and he now needs Carlos Alcaraz to beat Lorenzo Musetti later on Thursday in order to book his place in the semi-finals.Should Alcaraz beat local hero Musetti, as he is widely expected to, seventh seed De Minaur will take second place in the group after avoiding a sixth straight defeat at the Finals.Hard court specialist De Minaur won his 43rd match of the season on the surface, the most on the men’s tour, and was too much for Fritz once he prevailed in the first set tie-break.“Couple days ago was one of the toughest days I’ve had in my career. I was in a very, very dark spot. I could tell you that I hated the sport,” De Minaur told reporters.“Here we are two days later and I’m feeling great about myself. It’s incredible.”De Minaur revealed that personal battle after defeat to Musetti on Tuesday helped his mindset coming into the match with Fritz.“Regardless of the result today, I had made peace with myself. That was a big, big moment. I knew the way I wanted to play. I was going to commit to it from the first point to the last,” he said. “I was okay with the result not going my way. I had made peace with that. I just wanted to play my way.”Defeat for Fritz in one hour and 35 minutes ended the American’s participation in this year’s edition of the prestigious end-of-season tournament.“Today was probably the match that I’m not super happy about,” Fritz said.“I thought the other two matches I played well, did a lot of things well that maybe I hadn’t been doing well. I thought the first two matches I returned exceptionally well... There’s some positives to take. Obviously, right now I feel pretty upset.”Alcaraz is now guaranteed a spot in the semi-finals but still needs to beat Musetti to both secure first place in the group and claim the year-end number one ranking for the second time.If Musetti beats Alcaraz and joins Jannik Sinner in the next round it will be the first time two Italians have reached the semis in the history of the tournament.Sinner reached the last four of the after beating Alexander Zverev 6-4, 6-3 to qualify from the Bjorn Borg group with a match to spare.World number one Sinner is bidding to retain his title at the prestigious end-of-season tournament and he cruised into the semi-finals in front of a delighted crowd in Turin. The 24-year-old was not at his best and struggled with a hand problem at the start of the match but still had more than enough to see off Zverev for the fifth straight time.“I’ve known Sasha for a long time now and we changed our tactics a bit today, fortunately I only needed a break in each set to win. I’m very happy obviously, let’s see how we go in the next match,” said Sinner on court.“I’ve played well in recent weeks so I came into the tournament feeling good. We want to go as far as possible but also to play the right way.”Zverev hasn’t beaten Sinner since the 2023 US Open, being destroyed by the Italian in the semi-finals of the recent Paris Masters, and again the German couldn’t handle the four-time Grand Slam champion.Sinner was brutal on his serve, rattling in 12 aces, and once he took the first set with his third break point of game 10 he never looked back.

World number one Carlos Alcaraz came under extreme pressure before overcoming American Taylor Fritz 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-3 in a thrilling round-robin match at the ATP Finals Tuesday, leaving the Spaniard on two wins from two.Last year’s finalist Fritz played the tennis of his life, as both men served up the best encounter of the season-ending championships so far, but the American ran out of steam as Alcaraz turned on the style and took the deciding set with ease.Alcaraz and Fritz had won their opening Jimmy Connors Group matches, and the Spaniard looked in real trouble when the American took the opening set in a tiebreak. Alcaraz faced break points in the second set but rallied back to draw level.Fritz began to tire, and Alcaraz broke to lead 4-2 in the final set before wrapping up the win in two hours and 48 minutes by serving out to love.“It was pretty tight, I was struggling more than him in the first set,” Alcaraz said. “I wasn’t serving well, and I think he was pretty comfortable from the baseline, from everywhere.”Alcaraz will be assured of a semi-final place if Alex de Minaur defeats Lorenzo Musetti in the evening match. He also needs one more victory to guarantee the year-ending world number one spot, and will face Musetti Thursday.“I try not to think about it to be honest,” Alcaraz said.“Obviously it’s going to be a really big match for me. I’ll try to control the emotions, to control myself.”Tuesday’s clash was a battle from the opening game, with Fritz taking nine minutes to hold after hitting three aces but also facing two break points. The American forced three break points in the next game before the pair traded breaks.Fritz raced into a 5-2 lead in the tiebreak and smashed two aces to take the set. At 2-2 in the second, Alcaraz was rattled, his drop shots which earlier beat Fritz began to fall short but, after losing advantage five times, the Spaniard held on.Alcaraz got lucky with a shot that hit the net but crept over in the final game of the second set and broke to take the match to a third, where Alcaraz outclassed an exhausted Fritz.“I was really relieved after the win because of everything I went through during the match,” Alcaraz said aft.“I wasn’t feeling the ball as well as I was in the first round, but I’m really happy that I found a way to come back.”Two fans die on second day of ATP FinalsTwo spectators died from cardiac arrests during the second day of the ATP Finals at the Inalpi Arena in Turin, the Italian Tennis Federation (FITP) and the ATP said Tuesday.The individuals were aged 70 and 78 and the incidents occurred at different times on Monday. The first singles match between Italian Lorenzo Musetti and Taylor Fritz was delayed, with an announcement made regarding a medical situation in the arena.“The Italian Tennis and Padel Federation (FITP) and the ATP express their deepest condolences following the tragic passing of two spectators Tuesday during the ATP Finals in Turin,” a joint statement said Tuesday.“On-site medical and emergency personnel responded immediately, providing all possible assistance. Despite prompt intervention and subsequent transfer to hospital, unfortunately, both sadly passed away.”The season-ending championships have been held at the Turin arena since 2021, with the Italian city confirmed as host for 2026.The ATP Finals will remain in Italy until 2030.Large crowds were at the arena on Monday when along with Musetti, Italian fans were out in force to cheer on defending champion Jannik Sinner who defeated Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Carlos Alcaraz won his eighth title of a sensational season in Tokyo and then pulled out of the Shanghai Masters because of “physical issues” and took aim at tennis’ packed schedule.The Spanish world number one hurt his ankle in his opening match at the Japan Open but shrugged off the issue to beat American Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-4 in the final. But immediately after downing the world number five, the six-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz took aim at the tennis calendar.“The schedule is really tight. They have to do something with the schedule,” the recently crowned US Open champion told reporters in the Japanese capital, echoing the sentiments this week of fellow major champions Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff.Alcaraz subsequently wrote on Instagram that he will not play at the prestigious Shanghai Masters starting this week. “Unfortunately I’ve been struggling with some physical issues and, after discussing with my team, we believe the best decision is to rest and recover,” the 22-year-old wrote.Alcaraz injured his ankle last week in Tokyo as he ran for a shot, crumpling to the ground and sitting on the court for about five minutes. He returned to play with heavy strapping on his ankle and has admitted that the injury had been on his mind throughout the tournament. It did not appear to bother him against Fritz, as he gave another breathtaking display to lift the trophy in his first appearance in Japan.He clinched victory with a cleverly disguised drop shot before strolling to the net to give Fritz a warm embrace. The win gave Alcaraz a measure of revenge after losing to Fritz for the first time at the Laver Cup in San Francisco two weeks ago.The number of matches in the men’s and women’s tennis calendar has been a major talking point in recent years, with players such as Novak Djokovic cutting back the tournaments they compete in as they near the end of their careers. Gauff called for shorter seasons and said it was “impossible” to play more than she already does, after Swiatek also hit out at the number of tournaments. They were speaking at the China Open, where five players retired injured from matches on Monday.“With more and more events being two weeks it just doesn’t really make sense to strain your body,” the American Gauff said after emerging unscathed to reach the quarter-finals. “I would like to see in my lifetime on tour that a solution be made to make the season shorter,” the 21-year-old world number three added.Gauff, the defending China Open champion and two-time major winner, weighed in after top seed Swiatek said on Monday she may skip mandatory tournaments to protect her health. Starting last year, the Women’s Tennis Association made it mandatory for top players to participate in each Grand Slam, 10 WTA 1000 events – which includes Beijing – and six 500-level tournaments.“I guess on a business standpoint, it can kind of make sense, but on a player health standpoint, I don’t really agree with it,” Gauff said. “I’ve basically played as much tennis as I possibly can.”Poland’s world number two Swiatek called the WTA’s mandatory requirements “pretty crazy”. In Tokyo, Alcaraz said he too would look at skipping mandatory tournaments on the men’s ATP Tour.“We as tennis players, we are not allowed to have a choice if we have to play or not,” he said following his convincing two-set win over Fritz. “To be honest, I have to consider in the future if I have to skip some mandatory tournaments just to maintain my physical condition in a good shape.”Daniil Medvedev retired injured from his China Open semi-final Tuesday.

Taylor Fritz held off Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to seal Team World’s triumph in the Laver Cup Monday as two wins for Carlos Alcaraz on the final day proved too little for Team Europe.Fritz fired a backhand volley winner on his first match point to give Team World a 15-9 victory over Europe in the global tennis event, sparking jubilant celebrations from his teammates and World captain Andre Agassi at Chase Center – home of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.“The energy from the team, it just feels the moments of winning feel so much better, the moments of losing feel so much worse because you’re doing it for all these guys,” Fritz said.“It just fires me up so much,” added the fifth-ranked American, who had beaten Alcaraz on Saturday when Team World swept all four matches to seize a 9-3 lead.Fritz had raced through the opening set against a weary-looking Zverev.The German stepped it up in the second set, but he was down a break and trailing 4-3 before he finally mustered his first break points of the night.He converted his third to level the set at 4-4 to the delight of his Europe teammates and captain Yannick Noah.A quick hold from Zverev left Fritz serving to stay in the set. He held to love and they battled to the tiebreaker, where Fritz took a 3-0 lead only for Zverev to win three straight points before Fritz won four of the final five.Alcaraz, fresh off his sixth Grand Slam title at the US Open, had kept Europe’s title defence alive with a blistering 6-2, 6-1 victory over Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo.Alcaraz and Casper Ruud had sliced Europe’s deficit with a 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 doubles victory over Reilly Opelka and Alex Michelsen to open Sunday’s action. But Australian world number eight Alex De Minaur then beat Czech Jakub Mensik 6-3, 6-4 to push Team World’s lead to 12-6, with 13 points needed to claim the Cup and each match on Sunday worth three points.De Minaur, a late replacement on Team World for Frances Tiafoe, had nabbed two wins on Saturday – beating Zverev in singles and coming through again in doubles.Team World regained the title they surrendered to Europe last year in Berlin.Europe have won five of eight editions of the event co-created by Swiss great Roger Federer, which will be held in London next year.