Sinner wins Finals opener after Fritz beats irate Medvedev
World number one Jannik Sinner brushed past Alex de Minaur after Taylor Fritz defeated an irate Daniil Medvedev on the opening day of the ATP Finals.
Sinner, playing on home soil in Turin, Italy, won 6-3 6-4 to extend his perfect record against the Australian seventh seed.
Earlier, American Fritz recorded his 50th win of the year by beating Medvedev 6-4 6-3 as the group stage of the season-ending tournament got under way.
“I’m super happy with how I played today,” said Fritz, who reached his first Grand Slam final at September’s US Open.
Fourth seed Medvedev hit seven double faults in a tight opening set in the Ilie Nastase Group, including two back-to-back to give Fritz set point.
Capping a calamitous service game, the Russian double-faulted again, and reacted angrily to going behind by smashing his racquet against his seat and the ground.
At the start of the second set, Medvedev earned his first break point of the match but slammed his backhand return into the net.
Further break points went unconverted for both players before fifth seed Fritz, 27, capitalised on his third, with a mis-hit lob that landed on the baseline.
An irritated Medvedev then received a point penalty after he broke a courtside microphone by throwing his racquet.
As his behaviour unravelled he was booed by the crowd for his antics, which included holding his racquet by its head as he waited to receive a serve.
“I get angry, frustrated. This time completely with myself, not with anyone. Just with myself,” said Medvedev, 28.
Fritz easily served out the match to love but said, despite his opponent’s conduct, he could not rest until the win was confirmed.
“It’s very easy sometimes when someone’s doing that to relax and think they’re just going to be done, and then you drop your level,” he said.
“I had to stay focused and play a good game, because he was going to fight. I served a great game.”
Winning start for Sinner on home soil
Sinner finished as runner-up to Novak Djokovic at last year’s ATP Finals and has dominated this season, winning his first two Grand Slams – at the Australian and US opens – among a Tour-leading seven titles in 2024, all amid an ongoing doping controversy.
The 23-year-old had not played in four weeks since winning in Shanghai and got off to a sluggish start against De Minaur, who capitalised by breaking first as the Italian played a backhand out of bounds.
But De Minaur – making his tournament debut – was reminded of the challenge at hand when Sinner immediately cancelled his advantage, backing that up with two love holds and a break of his own.
Having served out the first set, Sinner controlled the second, breaking in the fifth game after two further holds to love. He had raced to 0-40 on his opponent’s serve, but after a brief pause while an ill spectator was attended to, De Minaur stemmed the flow of points by taking the game to deuce, only for Sinner to break at the fourth opportunity.
He wasted no time in wrapping up the win, serving out a flawless game with his eighth ace of the night.
Sinner now holds a 8-0 record against 25-year-old De Minaur, who has taken just a solitary set across all meetings.
“I’m very happy,” Sinner said. “I started off with some unforced errors, he was playing great in the beginning of the match. I just tried to stay there mentally knowing that at some point my tennis will arrive. It arrived quite early then and I started to return very well.
“I’m very pleased with the win and hopefully it can give me the confidence for the next one.”
On Monday, players in the John Newcombe Group get their campaign under way as Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz faces Casper Ruud of Norway from 13:00 GMT, before German Alexander Zverev – a two-time ATP Finals champion – plays Russian Andrey Rublev in the evening session.
Meanwhile in the doubles, Britain’s Henry Patten and his Finnish doubles partner Harri Heliovaara started their tournament with a 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 victory over the second seeds, Marcel Granollers of Spain and Argentine Horacio Zeballos.
