ATP Finals 2022: Taylor Fritz defeated Felix Auger in 3 set match

Taylor Fritz defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 6-2 on Thursday at the year-end competition to advance to the ATP Finals’ final four. In the semifinals, the American will compete against five-time champion Novak Djokovic. Until the fourth set, the match was served until Fritz broke twice in the final three games, either side of holding to love, securing his place in the next round when fellow tournament rookie Auger-Aliassime missed a backhand.

The only other break points up until the sixth game of the final set occurred in the second game of the second set when Fritz had to save three of them from his Canadian opponent. Casper Ruud was already guaranteed a spot in the semifinals, but the Norwegian lost to Rafael Nadal, who was already out, 7-5, 7-5, dropping him to 0-8 against top-three players.

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Fritz, who was originally not even scheduled to participate in the ATP Finals after narrowly missing out on the final qualification berth, is now through to the semifinal when world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz was forced to conclude his season early due to an ab muscle tear sustained during the Paris Masters. After winning the Red Group, Novak Djokovic will play the world No. 9 in the semi-final on Saturday as the Serb looks for a record-tying sixth ATP Finals victory. Fritz has faced Djokovic five times before, but their last encounter was over a year ago, and the American has completely changed as a player this year after breaking into the top ten, winning the Indian Wells Masters, and reaching his first Grand Slam quarterfinal. Auger-career-best Aliassime’s ATP Tour season, in which the 22-year-old won four titles, including three in three weeks, came to an end. He also joined Fritz in earning his top-10 and ATP Finals debuts. He will still be in action for Canada at the Davis Cup Finals the following week.