ATP Tour Finals: Taylor Fritz moves on, Rafael Nadal said goodbye with a victory and Horacio Zeballos was eliminated in the doubles

In the Masters which is done in Turin, This Thursday the second classified to the semifinals by the Green Group was defined. With some surprise, the North American Taylor Fritz He got his ticket to the next stage by defining in his favor in three sets his decisive duel against the Canadian Felix Auger – Also, seeded fifth, by 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (5-7) and 6-2, in 2 hours and 47 minutes.

The last game of the day at the Pala Alpitour was the highest emotion of the day. There, the tennis player who entered the contest to replace the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz He went from first substitute to being among the best four in two weeks. The absence of the number 1 in the ranking opened a door for him and he took the key to become the third rookie at the tournament to reach the semifinals so far this century, after what was done with his compatriot Jack Sock (2017) and Casper Ruud (2021).

The definition of Fritz-Auger Aliassime

Now, Fritz, 25, will have to face Serbian Novak Djokovic on Saturday in search of continuing to surprise and earn a place in the final, in what would mean the first American to reach the final match of this contest since James Blake He played it in 2006, when the tournament was held in Shanghai.

In the first turn, the Spanish Rafael Nadal, Number 2 in the world and first favorite, he finally achieved a victory in his farewell. With no chance of advancing after his losses to Fritz and Auger-Aliassime, he defeated the Norwegian Casper Ruud (3rd) by 7-5 and 7-5 in one hour and 48 minutes, in what meant his official farewell to the season, beyond the fact that both will participate in a Latin American exhibition tour that includes a match next Wednesday in Buenos Aires. For Ruud, the defeat was not painful, since he had previously qualified as a result of his two victories in the first two days of the zone and hopes to meet his rival in the other semifinal.

The definition of Nadal – Ruud

Almost out of self-love and the need to leave a better image in the epilogue of the year, Nadal improved a lot compared to the two previous games and He managed to break an unusual series of four straight losses, something that had not happened since 2009. Winner of 22 Grand Slam titles, he finished the game with 38 winners, 16 of them thanks to a serve that worked at a very good level, but also with much more aggressiveness from the baseline with his drive and quite effectively at the net. The 16 unforced errors were also good news for the Spaniard. In this context, Ruud did not give him too many facilities with his service and there was always great parity in the game.

“I can not ask for more. This year had a difficult six months for me, but I won two Grand Slam titles and managed to finish in a high place in the ranking”, Rafa assessed. And she added: “I will try to debut in 2023 with good energy and be immediately at the level I want to reach.” Ruud relativized: “This time there was nothing at stake, except a few points in the standings, a little more money. It wasn’t like a Grand Slam final. I didn’t want to expose myself to injury. I have to be ready for Saturday.”

This Friday the Red Group will be completed and the fourth semifinalist will be defined. In the first turn, Djokovic (7th), already classified in first place, will face the Russian Daniil Medvedev (4th), already eliminated, and in the second game they will face the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (2nd) and Russian Andrey Rublev (6th), who will define the second in the area and Ruud’s rival.

The couple made up of Horace Zeballos and the Spanish Marcel Granollers, Seeded seventh, she lost her third match in the doubles tournament at the Turin Masters and was eliminated. After having been semifinalists in 2020 and 2021, the man from Mar del Plata and the Catalan did not even win a victory in this edition and, although the mathematical possibilities of advancing were very distant, they barely lasted 59 minutes on the court. It was a 6-0, 6-4 victory for the British Lloyd Glasspool and the finnish Harri Heliovaara, favorite sixths.

Zeballos and Granollers close their worst season, albeit with a title, on the pitch in Halle, and five semifinals (Australia, Rio de Janeiro, Roland Garros, Hamburg and Astana). The Argentine and the Spanish conclude 2022 with seven consecutive defeats.

THE NATION