Antwerp
Fritz, Ruud stay in the year-end race to Turin
Year-end contenders Casper Ruud and Taylor Fritz poised opening wons on Wednesday at the Swiss Indoors to stay in the thick of the fight for qualifying spots at the season wrapup.
The second and third seeds here stand ninth (Fritz) and 10th (Ruud) in the 2023 points race to the eight-man event in Turin from November 12.
Ruud won the last six games as he stunned weekend Antwerp champion Alexander Bublik 7-6 (5), 6-2 to reach the second round here for the first time.
Fritz had his difficulties with Australian Max Purcell before clinching a 7-6 (7), 7-6 (4) win in two hours.
Ruud said that he is not stressing over his possible return to the year-ender in Italy and is simply trying to enjoy the struggle with this week and next remaining in the ATP regular season.
“I don’t want to don’t want think too much about Turin,” the Norwegian said.
“I’m enjoying the race and the competition. I’d love to qualify, I hope I can do that in the next two weeks.
“But I remain strong and am focusing on my matches.”
Fritz fought back while trailing Purcell 5-1 in the first-set tiebreaker and overcame the ignominy of losing serve while going for victory with a lead of a set and 5-4.
But Fritz escaped on his fourth match point, finishing with 12 aces among his 36 winners.
“I was lucky to win it, I did play some big points well in the important moments in the tiebreaker, ” the winner said.
“I came up clutch in the first set, serving and returning well. But I made it complicated for myself, got in my own way in the second set.
“But I was able to re-focus and play the perfect tiebreaker.”
Fritz, who stands provisional ninth in the race to next month’s eight-man ATP Finals in Turin, trails No. 8 Holger Rune by 90 ranking points.
He remains quietly confident over his chances of returning to the season wrapup for a second year in succession after reaching the semi-finals in Italy 11 months ago.
“There are definitely things I can work on. But I like where I am in the race.
“I have a decent chance if I can come up with big results over the next two weeks.”
Daniil Medvedev lost a mere five points on serve as the 20-time ATP titleholder schooled French teenager Arthur Fils 6-4, 6-2 to reach the second round in Vienna.
Veteran Gael Monfils, 37, gained back some of the Gallic respect as the weekend Stockholm champion extended his win streak to six straight with a 6-4, 6-4 defeat of German Daniel Altmaier.
Medvedev is hoping to repeat as a tournament titleholder for the first time in his career if he can find his way to the Vienna trophy on Sunday.
He advanced with 16 winners and eight unforced errors in 75 minutes; Fils produced 31 unforced errors in his first match since losing the Antwerp final three days ago to Alexander Bublik.
“I was a little bit nervous coming into the match,” Monfils said after taking a week off following Shanghai this month.
“I managed to serve well, play well and work him out during the match, so I’m very happy.”
Medvedev now faces Grigor Dimitrov for a quarter-final place in the Austrian capital.
Main photo:- Daniil Medvedev winning today – by Erste Bank
Teenage Frenchman Arthur Fils schooled Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4) on Saturday to send the Greek out of the semi-finals at the ATP event in Antwerp.
The Belgian battering of the world No. 7 Greek put the 19-year-old winner into Sunday;s title match against Kazakh Alexander Bublik, who ended a desperation run of five consecutive first-round losses this season during the Belgian indoor week.
Fils, 19, who will crack the Top 35, will be seeking his second trophy of a breakthrough season after staring in January with a ranking outside the Top 250
The youngster secured the second Top-10 win of his career.
“I was very tight and my first serve just wouldn’t go [in]… so I said maybe it would be tough (serving out victory),” the winner said.
“He had some great points and I made some bad mistakes. “But I was very happy with how I played in the tie-break and now I will try to bring my best in the final.”
Double Grand Slam finalist Tsitsipas has managed only one title in 2023, and is fighting to secure a place in the fast-approaching eight-man ATP Finals next month in Turin.
Stefanos Tsitsipas got serious about patching up his game as the Greek reached his first semi-final since August with a quarter-final win in Antwerp on Friday.
Tsitsipas, who last got this far on the Tour when he won Los Cabos two months ago;after that success he won four matches and lost five on the Tour.
But luck appeared to change for the two-time Grand Slam finalist as he returned to Europe this week after a disappointing 1-2 finish during the autumn Asian swing.
The top seed advanced past German Yannick Hanfmann 6-3, 6-3 and is also alive with brother Petros in doubles at the indoor venue.
“When you play on the Tour, you don’t get to do this very often,” Tsitsipas said.
“It has its own satisfaction, getting to do both. It’s good that I can play so good in both draws.
“I’m happy I’m doing it with Petros. I think we can really enjoy out there and take this opportunity to play good tennis.”
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