The tougher the battle, the sweeter the win. Carlos Alcaraz can surely attest to that! After taking down Alex de Minaur in his opening match, the Spaniard collected his second round-robin victory at the ATP Finals with a gritty win over Taylor Fritz on Tuesday. The American refused to give an inch. Fritz snatched the first set 7-6(2), but Alcaraz hit back, breaking the World No. 10 in the second. It was tight all the way through, and even Alcaraz admitted he felt the tension for a moment.

Speaking after the match, Alcaraz broke down his performance against Fritz. “I was running more than him, I was struggling more than him,” he said. “After the first set, then it was a break up, and the next time I didn’t play well. I think in the first set I didn’t serve well, and I think he was playing really, really comfortably from the baseline with everything.”

True to word, Fritz did play the tennis of his life. He matched Alcaraz shot for shot in what felt like the match of the tournament so far. But after nearly three hours of explosive rallies, the American ran out of steam. Alcaraz stepped up in the decider and stormed through the final set with authority. Both men had opened their Jimmy Connors Group campaigns with wins, and when Fritz took the first set in a tiebreak and earned early break points in the second, the Spaniard looked in real trouble.

Still, Alcaraz steadied himself, rediscovered his rhythm, and seized control with his trademark shot-making. Fritz fought hard but couldn’t keep pace as fatigue crept in. The American’s energy dipped late, and Alcaraz broke for 4-2 before closing it out confidently to love. The contest lasted two hours and 48 minutes, and when it was over, Alcaraz exhaled with a smile. As he summed it up, “So it was a real relief after the win because of everything that I went through during the match.”