A wave of relief washed over Alex de Minaur in Turin as he sealed a decisive 7-6(3), 6-3 victory over Taylor Fritz at the Nitto ATP Finals, a win that not only delivered his first-ever triumph at the prestigious year-end event but also kept his faint hopes of a semi-final berth alive. In an impressive, attacking display, the Australian dominated a nervy Fritz, who struggled throughout the one-hour, 35-minute clash, committing 33 unforced errors.

Despite this critical win, de Minaur’s future in the tournament hinged on a result beyond his control. His straight-sets victory over Fritz left him with a 1-2 record in the Jimmy Connors Group, and his only path to the semi-finals required World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz to defeat Italian Lorenzo Musetti in the group’s final round-robin match later that evening. A win for the local hero, Musetti, would instead see the Italian advance and end de Minaur’s campaign.

This precarious situation was explained to de Minaur during his on-court interview, to which he replied, stating, “Is that actually true or not? I don’t know, I don’t trust you right now. I’m gonna have to see what happens. But hey, ultimately, I kind of made my peace, right? And I was able to come today onto the call with that sort of mindset and kind of enough worrying about circumstances or the what-ifs, and I just focused on what I needed to do. And it’s going to be a little bit more of that tonight. Whatever happens, happens. I put my best foot forward, and I’m pleased with that.”

This resilient performance was also a stark contrast to the heartbreak de Minaur suffered just days prior, a devastating three-set loss, 5-7, 6-3, 5-7, to Lorenzo Musetti. He described his feelings after the loss, stating, “If I really want to be serious about taking the next step in my career, these matches, I can’t lose them. I just can’t. I mean, it feels like I’ve lost a lot of them this year. More than anything, it’s getting to a point where mentally it’s killing me.”

For de Minaur, the victory over Fritz was a positive reward for his hard work and a crucial step in confronting the mental challenges he had openly acknowledged. By making peace with his circumstances and focusing only on the elements within his control, he positioned himself to await his fate with a quiet resolve. However, how did his first match with the Spaniard go?

The hard-fought match that Alex de Minaur had against Carlos Alcaraz

Carlos Alcaraz kicked off his match in the Jimmy Connors Group with a win against Alex de Minaur, finishing it at 7-6(5), 6-2. The match went on for about an hour and 40 minutes. The first set was really tight. Alcaraz kicked things off with a bang, jumping to a 4-1 lead.  But de Minaur really stepped up, saving those break points and taking the set to a tie-break. After clinching that close first set, Alcaraz kept the good vibes going.

So, the second set kicked off with three breaks of serve in a row, and Alcaraz snagged two of those, really taking charge of the match. Alcaraz was really on fire, smashing a total of 32 winners throughout the match. After the match, Alcaraz shared his thoughts on his mindset during that important tie-break, saying, “I think he was playing much better in the tie-break. So I just tried to stay strong mentally, just to stay focused on the next point, stay focused on the goals that I had to chase in the match.”

If the Spaniard pulls off a win against Lorenzo Musetti later tonight, it’ll be a full circle moment, and both he and de Minaur will move on to the next round.