The Spaniard’s victory moves him one win away from defeating Jannik Sinner and taking first place in the year-end rankings.
Published November 12, 2025
World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz defeated American Taylor Fritz 6-7 (2), 7-5, 6-3 in a thrilling round-robin match at the ATP Finals, making it two wins from two matches under extreme pressure.
Fritz, last year’s finalist, played the best tennis of her life on Tuesday, and both players had their best matchup in the final championship match of the season, but the American ran out of steam as Alcaraz changed his style and easily took the deciding set.
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Alcaraz and Fritz had won their opening match in the Jimmy Connors Group, but the Spaniard looked really in trouble when the American took the first set in a tiebreak. Alcaraz faced a break point in the second set, but rallied to level the draw.
Fritz began to tire and Alcaraz broke in the final set to take a 4-2 lead before serving out to Love for the win in 2 hours and 48 minutes.
“It was pretty tight. I struggled more than him in the first set,” Alcaraz said. “My serve wasn’t very good, but I think he was pretty comfortable from anywhere from the baseline.”
Alcaraz approaches first place in the rankings
Alcaraz will be guaranteed a place in the semi-finals if Alex de Minaur defeats Lorenzo Musetti in tonight’s match. He needs one more win to secure his position as world number one at the end of the year, and will face Musetti on Thursday.
“Honestly, I try not to think about it,” Alcaraz said.
“Of course, it’s a very important match for me. I’ll try to control my emotions and control myself.”
Tuesday’s matchup was a close one from the start, with Fritz taking nine minutes to make and hold three aces while also facing two break points. The American forced three break points in the next game before both sides traded breaks.
Fritz took a 5-2 lead in the tiebreaker and hit two aces to take the set. At 2-2 in the second game, Alcaraz was upset. His drop shot, which had previously defeated Fritz, started to fall short, but the Spaniard held on after losing his advantage five times.
Alcaraz was lucky to hit a shot that hit the net, but in the final game of the second set he snuck up and broke to take the match into a third set, where Alcaraz outplayed an exhausted Fritz.
“I felt really relieved after the win because of everything I went through during the game,” Alcaraz said.
“I didn’t feel as good with the ball as I did in the first round, but I’m really happy that I found a way to get back on track.”
