Alex de Minaur is a very good tennis player, but he isn't truly great. Not, at least, when compared to Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, but who is currently? Still, at the 2025 ATP Finals, the Australian was looking at being bounced out before reaching the semifinals again.
Heading into his final round-robin match and facing a huge-hitting server in the person of Taylor Fritz, de Minaur was on the verge of being the first player in 30 years to lose his first six matches at the year-end final. He had lost his first two this year.
Plus, Fritz only needed to win a set and have Alcaraz win his match later in the day to almost certainly reach the semifinals. De Minaur had to win in straight sets, and he had lost five of his last meetings with the American, dating back to 2021.
Alex de Minaur gives himself a chance at the ATP Finals by defeating Taylor Fritz in straight sets
Fritz seemed a bit off during the match, however. His usual pristine serve wasn't as effective against the blazingly fast de Minaur, and the Australian was hitting his forehands bigger. The first set showed that the difference between the top players after Sinner and Alcaraz is extremely close.
While de Minaur was busy chasing seemingly every shot by Fritz down, the American also wasn't hitting with the same force and placement as he normally does. The Australian capitalized as the first set reached a tie-break, and the Aussie jumped out to a 6-1 lead. Fritz eventually lost 7-3.
Any real drama in the match seemed done after de Minaur got a break off Fritz early in the second set to get to a 3-0 lead. While the Australian is far from the best server on the ATP tour, Fritz struggled with his return game. De Minaur was able to keep his break lead, while constantly putting pressure on the American's serve.
He even had a break and match point leading 5-2 in the second set, but Fritz was almost miraculously able to hold. While the American helped the Aussie by committing far more unforced errors than winners through most of two sets, he had a bit of magic left to force Alex de Minaur to hold serve to win the match.
Fritz, though, couldn't win the set he needed, while de Minaur won in straight sets the way he had to, taking the second set 6-3. If Carlos Alcaraz wins against Lorenzo Musetti as expected, de Minaur will go from losing his first two matches to reaching the semifinals at the ATP Finals. Fritz is out with the loss.