ATP Finals: Rafael Nadal is defeated by Taylor Fritz in two sets at the start
Rafael Nadal lost his first group game at the ATP Finals in Turin. The top seeded Spaniard lost to Taylor Fritz 6:7 (3) and 1:6.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit:
Nov 13, 2022, 10:49 pm
Disappointing start for Rafael Nadal at the ATP Finals in Turin. The 22-time Grand Slam champion was beaten by Taylor Fritz 6:7 (3) and 1:6 on Sunday evening. In the remaining two group games against Felix Auger-Aliassime and Casper Ruud, the top seeded Spaniard is already under a lot of pressure.
Fritz showed no sign of additional pressure at his ATP Finals premiere and made a strong start against Nadal. In the course of the first set, the American missed a total of three breakballs, but he presented himself untouchable when he served himself. Accordingly, the 25-year-old won the tie-break 7:3.
Fritz makes short work of sentence two
Fritz remained the better player in the second set and took the serve from Nadal to make it 3-1. The ninth in the world rankings added another break to make it 5-1 a little later and after an hour and 37 minutes of play converted his first match point to a clear 7-6 (3) and 6-1 win.
While Fritz took the lead in the green group, Nadal is now already with his back to the wall. The Spaniard meets Auger-Aliassime on Tuesday, Fritz has to deal with Ruud. The Norwegian had won his first group game of the afternoon against Auger-Aliassime in straight sets .
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