Taylor Fritz sneaks past feisty Daniil Medvedev in first match at ATP Finals

Daniil Medvedev was almost there. After Taylor Fritz broke him in the second set to give the American the lead 4-2 at the ATP Finals, the Russian threw his racket off the court and was given a point penalty. He had earlier been issued a warning. Had Medvedev kept up the antics, he would have next lost a game.

He almost did. In toying with the chair umpire after the point deduction, the Russian tossed his racket up in the air to himself but made little attempt to actually catch it. The umpire played nice and did not deduct the game because that likely would have ended the match. As it was, the Russian was nearly done anyway.

Fritz did not play perfectly (though he did have 21 winners against just 14 unforced errors), but throughout the first set and early into the second, he was landing his first serve 80 percent of the time. The pace and power kept the normally excellent returning Medvedev off-balance enough for Fritz to hold his serve. He needed only two breaks overall to take the match 6-4 6-3.

Taylor Fritz begins his ATP Finals play with a victory over testy Daniil Medvedev

The match was Fritz's first over Medvedev, but the two had oddly only faced each other once before. Both players have ranked in the top 15 (with Medvedev almost always in the top five) over the last few years, so one might have thought they would have played more. Fritz certainly played as if he had faced and beaten Medvedev several times before.

The meeting at the net after the match was not overly friendly. Perhaps Fritz was rightfully annoyed by Medvedev's behavior. While the Russian playing games with the umpire might be seen as humorous, it was also disrespectful to Fritz. There were few words, and Fritz was not smiling.

Both Medvedev and Fritz have a chance to make the semifinals of the ATP Finals, however. Fritz needs to win at least one more match to cement his spot in the semis. He is attempting to be the first American to win the year-end event since Pete Sampras did so in 1999.

The Russian will need to win out to have a chance at the semifinals. He did not look overly interested in playing against Fritz, though. Maybe Medvedev just phones in his next two matches as well.

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