Fritz fights into final with defeat of Zverev

Taylor Fritz put an American into the title match of the ATP Finals for the first time in nearly two decades as he outlasted Alexander Zverev 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (3) on Saturday.

The last compatriot to get this far at the eight-man season wrapup was James Blake in Shanghai 18 years ago.

Fritz continued his recent domination of world No. 2 Zverev, beating him for the fourth straight time.

The winner will play either top seed Jannik Sinner of Casper Ruud, meeting later in the day’s second semi-final in Turin.

Fritz and Zverev blasted each other with big shots from the start, with their backhand-to-backhand duels dominating in the final set, which went into a tiebreaker.

The Californian had to battle to hold onto his 4-1 lead in the decider, with Zverev – unbeaten in group play this week – nudging from 1-4 to 3-5.

But a return over the baseline handed Fritz three match points, with the American delivering an inside-out forehand to the corner to seal victory after two and a quarter hours.

“It”s amazing to be in the final,” the winner said. “I had a semi in 2022 but it’s awesome to come back and go a step further.

“It’s an honour to be here,” added the player who will rise to a career-best fourth in the world.

Fritz has now defeated Zverev four times since Wimbledon, also winning at the US Open and Laver Cup.

He took victory with 30 winners and 28 unforced errors.

“It was tough in the second and third sets after playing almost a perfect first set,” he said. “But things can change quickly – one bad service game and he breaks me.

“I had chances to get it back but that was the (second) set. In the third we got on each other’s serves even more and kept a lot of balls in play.

“I just tried to fight, play solid and take care of serve as best I could.”

Fritz said that he has been gaining confidence in recent seasons along with his rise into the tennis elite.

“I trust my game and my level, I don’t feel uncomfortable against top guys at the big events.

“I’m more comfortable in those moments.”