Taylor Fritz is through to the second round of the Paris Masters, but the image that lingered from Tuesday was not of a winner. It was the American who was sitting on his bench with a towel pressed to his face, a set down to a qualifier, waiting for the trainer. 

Fritz, the 11th seed, beat French qualifier Benjamin Bonzi 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and 41 minutes. The scare came after Bonzi had taken the opening set 6-3. Fritz called a medical timeout, and courtside observers noted that he had been touching his elbow earlier in the match. 

Neither Fritz nor the tournament has explained what happened to his elbow, but he was not hampered after the resumption. Nevertheless, any time he uses his arm is going to get some attention, especially after what he’s already been through this season. For now, the victory keeps his ambitions to Turin alive. 

Bonzi made him work for each point. The 95th-ranked Bonzi was the only French qualifier in the main draw, and with the crowd behind him, he kept the tension for three sets. He moved Fritz from side to side, held serve with ease, and won 84 percent of his first-serve points. The decider turned on its first two games. 

The American broke the Frenchman in the opening game, the only loose game he played in that set. Bonzi then immediately struck back with three break points in the very next game, but Fritz saved all three with his brilliant serving. From there, the 30-year-old did nothing wrong, but the first game had already done the damage. 

Fritz finished with 20 aces to Bonzi’s eight and won 77 percent of his first-serve points, seven percent less than his opponent, but made sure that he had more first serves in. The American needed only two break points in the whole match and converted both.

Back in February at the Dallas Open, Fritz jammed it on an awkward one-handed flick off a hard return during his quarterfinal against Sebastian Korda. 

“I instantly got this really sharp pain in my elbow,” he said afterwards. “I felt like I couldn’t even hold the racket after snapping the serve.” 

He took painkillers, served his way through, and won that match in a final-set tiebreak. The injury had come just weeks after he had suffered severe knee tendonitis – an injury he admits “takes months and months to get better.” 

In 2026, he has had trouble with his body on many occasions, and now Paris has asked it once again at the wrong time.

What Fritz needs in Paris to reach Turin

Taylor Fritz came into Paris 12th in the Race to Turin on 2,860 points. With Jannik Sinner out for the season, the qualifying line sits at ninth place, currently held by Rafael Jodar on 3,234. Alex de Minaur is 10th on 3,170, and Novak Djokovic is 11th on 2,900. Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, Ben Shelton and Daniil Medvedev have already qualified, while Flavio Cobolli has pulled out of Paris, leaving his total frozen on 3,690.

Fritz needs at least a semifinal in Paris to stay in contention. That rises to the final if Jodar beats Casper Ruud on Tuesday night, and only the title would guarantee his place. But it’s a thin road for a player who made it to a Nitto ATP Finals final in 2024.

The 29-year-old faces Slovak qualifier Alex Molcan next, after Molcan came from a set down to beat French wild card Titouan Droguet 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Waiting in the third round could be sixth seed Arthur Fils, another man chasing Turin, if Fils gets past qualifier Tomas Machac. If a meeting were to take place with Fils, then it would become a direct shoot-out for points.

Over the previous fortnight, the former world No. 4 reached the final in Lyon, losing to Lorenzo Musetti, and then the semifinals in Basel, where he fell to eventual champion Valentin Vacherot. Earlier in the year, he won the ATP 500 title in Washington. That form has been there in bits and pieces, but will both things come together for the American to make a fourth appearance at the ATP Finals?