Turin, Nov 10 (IANS) American Taylor Fritz made a rousing start in the ATP Tour Finals, beating Italian Lorenzo Musetti in the opening group match on Monday. With this win, Fritz spoiled Musetti’s ATP Finals debut in emphatic fashion, delivering a commanding performance to silence the packed Inalpi Arena crowd in Turin.

Blending discipline with controlled aggression, the Fritz dictated play from the baseline to seal a 6-3, 6-4 win against the Italian.

Fritz has lost in experience at the season finale, having reached the championship match last year and the semifinals on debut in 2022. The 28-year-old arrived in northern Italy a week ago, in stark contrast to Musetti, who only touched down in Turin on Sunday after falling to Novak Djokovic in the Athens final on Saturday night.

With a full week of preparation in the bag, Fritz looked more comfortable in the indoor conditions. The sixth seed stepped inside the baseline to take the ball early, redirecting pace and pushing Musetti onto the back foot. Though the Italian produced flashes of brilliance while scrambling, he spent most of the match retreating, unable to wrest control from Fritz’s penetrating, flat groundstrokes.

“I am really happy. I thought I did a lot of things really well,” Fritz said. “I did a great job early on in the match to serve my way out of trouble and save some break points. The whole second set I played well and had a lot of chances to break that I didn’t get. I am really happy I was able to serve it out there, and it didn’t come back to ruin it.”

Fritz finished with a performance rating of 9.20 against Musetti, well above his 8.28 Tour average in 2025. After storming through the first set, the American gained the crucial break of the second set at 1-1 when Musetti hit two consecutive doubles from 40/30 before he pushed a backhand wide when defending on break point. Fritz then held his nerve when serving out, rallying from 0/30 at 5-4 to triumph after one hour and 43 minutes.

Fritz is now 1-0 in the Jimmy Connors group and will also meet Carlos Alcaraz and Alex de Minaur in round-robin play in Turin. Alcaraz, chasing his first Nitto ATP Finals crown, defeated De Minaur on Sunday to kick-start his final push to earn ATP Year-End No. 1 honours.

Musetti has enjoyed the best season of his career to qualify for the year-end event for the first time, advancing to tour-level finals in Monte-Carlo, Chengdu, and Athens. The 23-year-old is joined by countryman and World No. 2 Jannik Sinner in Turin. The defending champion Sinner begins his campaign against Felix Auger-Aliassime on Monday night.

–IANS

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