Taylor Fritz made a strong start to the ATP Finals in Turin with a straight-sets victory over an angry Daniil Medvedev. The American, who reached the semi-finals on his debut two years ago, produced a level-headed display to claim a 6-4, 6-3 victory.
The same could not be said for Medvedev, who earned a warning for smashing his racket after serving three straight double faults to end the opening set.
The Russian then lost his cool again after a mishit Fritz lob landed on the baseline to seal the crucial break for 4-2 in the second set, throwing his racket and swiping at a microphone to earn a point penalty.
Soon afterwards the match was over, with fifth seed Fritz determined to keep his focus no matter what was happening down the other end of the court.
“I definitely felt like at 5-3 he was going to reset and try as hard as he could to break me,” said the fifth seed on Sky Sports. “It’s very easy sometimes when someone’s doing that to relax and think they’re just going to be done. Then you drop your level. I just had to tell myself stay focused at 5-3, play a really good game because he was going to fight for that game. Luckily I served a great game.”
Home favourite Jannik Sinner faces Alex de Minaur in the day’s other match on Sunday evening.