The first match at the 2024 Nitto ATP Finals saw Taylor Fritz defeat Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-3 on Sunday afternoon in Turin, Italy. The sixth-ranked American did not drop serve a single time, saving all three of the break points he faced while cruising in on hour and 20 minutes.
“[The serve] was a big part of it, for sure,” Fritz commented. “He’s such a good returner. You can make a lot of first serves, but if they are not very high quality, he just puts so many returns in the court.
“It was huge for me. I hit a lot of lines–a lot of spots to start out games. I got out of a lot of service games [with] no pressure. Some of the ones we got tight in, I was either able to grind through the long rallies or get myself some free points.”
In the nightcap, Jannik Sinner got off to a 1-0 start in Group Ilie Nastase by beating Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-4. Sinner improved to 8-0 lifetime in the head-to-head series after just one hour and 25 minutes. The top-ranked Italian lost only 10 service points in the entire match, although he did get broken once.
“I’m very happy,” Sinner assured. “I started off with some unforced errors. He was playing great in the beginning of the match, so I just tried to stay there mentally, knowing that hopefully at some point my tennis would arrive. It arrived quite early, and I started to return very well.
“My serve, for sure I have to improve if I want to [win] the next match–against Taylor, for example, today he played really well. Let’s see, but today I’m very pleased about the win and hopefully this can give me confidence for the next one.”
nice one, Fritz