Lorenzo Musetti was unable to challenge Taylor Fritz in his ATP Finals debut, with Fritz leading the group alongside Alcaraz
Taylor Fritz defeated Lorenzo Musetti in straight sets (6-3, 6-4), just two days after his marathon final in Athens against Novak Djokovic.
Lorenzo Musetti, ATP Finals 2025 | © Ch. Caillaud / PsNewz
It has been a tough introduction for the newcomers at the 2025 ATP Finals. Mere hours after Ben Shelton’s frustrating loss, outclassed by Alexander Zverev’s experience, Lorenzo Musetti could only muster a valiant but powerless effort against Taylor Fritz in his debut match at the men’s season-ending “Masters” (6-3, 6-4).
By fighting back to within two points at 5-5 in the second set, Musetti briefly ignited hope among the Turin crowd for a third set. However, Fritz, last year’s finalist, did not concede a single break point despite four opportunities throughout the match.
It was enough for him to break Musetti’s serve twice– once in the first part of each set (on 12 break points) – to assert his status as the group’s second seed behind Carlos Alcaraz, with whom he now shares the top spot in the Jimmy Connors group.
Fritz : “I bought myself some time”
“At the end of the first set and all through the second, I felt really good, Fritz said on court to ATP media. I was a bit nervous early in the second set, but I managed to get myself out of a sketchy game at the start with my serve. After that, I was able to buy myself some time to think about how I wanted to structure points from the back and find my rhythm.”
Fritz had not defeated Musetti since the Davis Cup 2022. He was on three losses in a row, two on clay and one on grass. But he didn’t feel this would be a key factor in this match-up.
“He does a lot of things that can trouble me, but what helped me most in this match was the court speed. When he plays all those floating slices, on other surfaces it can be really annoying because I don’t have the pace to work with. On a fast court, I was able to rush him, hurt him, and be aggressive.” Their head-to-head is now 3-3.
Alcaraz and Fritz will meet up on Tuesday at 2:00 pm CET for what looks like a battle for the supremacy of the group. De Minaur and Musetti will compete for their first win ever at the ATP Finals at 8:30 pm.
