By Richard Pagliaro | Monday, November 10, 2025
Photo: ATP Finals Facebook
The Italian fans embraced Lorenzo Musetti with a resounding roar as he walked onto the court for his ATP Finals debut.
A ruthless one Taylor Fritz spent the next 100 minutes missing Musetti and the Turin faithful.
Stifling Musetti’s magical forehands with deep forehands, Fritz dispatched the Italian shooter 6-3, 6-4 in his opening match at an ATP final.
2024 finalist Fritz moves to the top of the Jimmy Connors Group – based on games won-loss record – joining Carlos Alcaraz with a 1-0 record in round robin games. Alcaraz beat Alex de Minaur yesterday 7-6(5), 6-2.
A focused Fritz fired 13 aces against no double faults and saved all four break points he faced. Fritz snapped a three-match losing streak with Musetti, including a heartbreaking 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 loss in the 2024 Wimbledon quarter-finals, where the Californian led by a set and a break but was flustered by Musetting using a short forecourt.
Today, Fritz stifled the spin doctor’s ability to shift angle and depth. Musetti saved a match point in the ninth game and then opened the lead with 30 on Fritz’s serve.
Under pressure on serve for the first time in the second set, Fritz dropped the hammer by burning back-to-back aces and finishing with a powerful forehand winner to seal it in the second hour, 42 minutes.
The beginning of the statement 💪@Taylor_Fritz97 beats local favorite Musetti 6-3 6-4 to open his Turin campaign with a win ✅#NittoATPFinals pic.twitter.com/HJKEsXfmk1
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) November 10, 2025
“I think the things I want to do against him work in a fast court,” Fritz said Tennis Channel’s Prakash Amritraj afterwards. “I think the things I want to do against him on a slow court are hard to do. Obviously, he got me once at Wimbledon, but I feel like with the grass it almost helped him a little bit because he just put the ball in and I had to get up and not be able to put the ball away.
“I feel like this court is fast when he hit it, I was able to feel like I didn’t have to take away the red line of his chips to hurt him and stay aggressive. So I think the speed of the court definitely played a big role in just being able to rush it and be offensive.”
Credit Musetti, who faced constant stress on his serve, for fighting off 10 of 12 break points – and fatigue from his run to the Athens final on Saturday. Musetti played a good match, but Fritz called the shots from all over the court, including winning 10 of 14 trips to the net and putting the Italian’s own art against him several times.
The last man to qualify for Turin won the first break chances of the match. Musetti held all four of his break points in the third game. Fritz hit an ace to erase the fourth break point, took out another ace to pass Ad-In and held for 2-1.
That near breakthrough haunted Musetti in the game that followed, as he lost a 40-30 lead.
Court positioning was key today as Fritz hovered near the baseline and blasted a backhand down the line for a second break point. Musetti hit a hard layup as Fritz broke through for a 3-1 lead.
The sixth seed hit a quick shot to confirm the break for 4-1.
Bouncing back, Fritz fired his fourth ace, then followed it up with a stinging serve on the T, closing out the 48-minute opening set with his second love hold.
Fritz won 10 straight service points to take that one-set lead.
Despite Musetti serving 64 percent in that set, Fritz put the Italian under almost constant stress. The American won break points in three of Musetti’s four service games.
Starting the second set with intense pressure, Fritz hit Musetti in ambiguous positions behind the baseline, winning four break points in the opening game.
By then, Musetti, who lost a nail-biting Athens final to Grand Slam king Novak Djokovic on Saturday, was heading his racket into his thighs. It looked like Musetti was trying to turn his racket into a defibrillator to shock the life into his exhausted legs while competing in his fifth game in the last six days.
In an adventurous game that saw the Italian miss an underarm service attempt, Musetti fought off all four break points to survive an agonizing 12-and-a-half minute stoppage, then raised his palms in the air in a “nothing is easy today” gesture.
An incisive Fritz continued to shoot away smashing deep drives into the corner.
The man in black hit himself in a dark dilemma, twice in a row to give Fritz another break point.
Walking down the baseline, Fritz hit an inside-out, breaking lead for a 2-1 lead in the second set.
The 2024 US Open finalist confirmed the break with a love hold for 3-1.
Credit Musetti for saving match point with a quick net and holding for 4-5. Fritz played two nervy shots to fall behind at love-30 in the next game.
Coming back, the rocket fired by Fritz serves to close and level his career head-to-head at 3-all with Musetti.
“I wouldn’t say I was that cool and collected,” Fritz said. “I missed two balls that I really shouldn’t miss to get down to love-30.
“So I said to myself: Wow, I’m getting choked from behind, so I need to get some free points on my serve. Luckily, I hit four good serves.”
