By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, November 11, 2025Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty
Climbing to the top of the tennis mountain requires complete commitment to the cause.
Staying there demands daring and strong self belief.
Down a set, Carlos Alcaraz delivered creativity and forward finishing skills fending off Taylor Fritz 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-3 in a dizzying drama to raise his ATP Finals record to 2-0 in the Jimmy Connors Group.
Alcaraz won 23 of 26 trips to net edging Fritz for the fifth time in six meetings and moving to within one win of securing the year-end No. 1 ranking.
If Alcaraz defeats Italian Lorenzo Musetti in his final round-robin match he will seal the year-end top spot for the second time in the last four years. Even if Musetti upsets the two-time US Open champion, Alcaraz can still earn the year-end No. 1 ranking by reaching the Turin final. If Alex de Minaur defeats Musetti later today, the Athens finalist is eliminated from semifinal contention.
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It was Alcaraz’s 50th career Top 10 win as he raised his 2025 record to 69-8 in his quest to reach a maiden ATP Finals championship match and regain year-end No. 1.
“You know before the match that you have to do your best,” Alcaraz told Tennis Channel’s Prakash Amritraj. “You’re playing against the best tennis players in the world. So they usually not let you come back in the match if you lose the focus a little it. That means it doesn’t matter if it’s two hours, three hours, you have to be focused on every point.
“That makes it really difficult to play against the top. In the match, you are gonna be really focused on playing your best tennis if you want to beat them.”
What a match 🔥@carlosalcaraz moves to the top of the Jimmy Connors group with a tough win over Fritz!#NittoATPFinals pic.twitter.com/XezuCJafhz
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) November 11, 2025
Spare a thought for Fritz, who staged a phenomenal fight today.
Ultimately, two sloppy service games—when Fritz dropped serve in the final game of the second set and Alcaraz’s break for a 4-2 lead in the decider—cost the 2024 finalist a shot for his second win over the Spaniard in the last three months. Through two Turin matches, Fritz has fired 27 aces against just two double faults. Today, Fritz cracked deep drives that diminished Alcaraz’s from applying his all-court skills for stretches, and saved eight of 11 break points.
Alcaraz’s explosive court coverage and all-court creativity—he dabbed drop shots and soared for a few fantastic high backhand overheads—helped carry him across the finish lines after a frenetic two hour, 48-minute battle.
“On return, I got chances in the first game, I broke in the second return game, after that I didn’t know what happened because I didn’t feel comfortable on the return,” Alcaraz told Tennis Channel’s Prakash Amritraj. “He was serving really well. So I was a set-and-a-half that I couldn’t return any serves, to be honest. It was really difficult for me to even mentally to stay there.
“I’m really happy that I found a way. I just [moved back] to give myself more time to return his serve. I had to run even more the first two, three shots in every point, but I’m really happy that I got energy enough to do it, to recover in the points. And I’m playing great tennis.”
The server was under stress from the start of today’s rematch of last month’s Tokyo final, which Alcaraz won 6-4, 6-4 to avenge his Laver Cup loss to Fritz.
Facing a pair of break points, Fritz stood tall withstanding a nine-minute hold that spanned 18 points to open the match.
Then it was Alcaraz’s turn to face the fire.
The top-seeded Spaniard staved off three break points deftly deploying the drop shot-lob winner combo as he held in the second game. Two games required 20 minutes of play.
Dabbing a backhand drop shot winner, Alcaraz broke at 15 for a 2-1 lead. In his opener against Alex de Minaur, Alcaraz let the break slip away and Fritz, knowing the Spaniard can suffer dips in concentration, broke right back banging a big backhand that set up a fantastic forehand drive volley to level after four games.
The 2024 finalist Fritz pressure again gaining two break points in the eighth game. Alcaraz launched heavy serves to save both before spinning a forehand swing volley and erupting in a loud “Vamos!” forging a 4-all deadlock.
Alcaraz played the serve-and-volley to force the first-set tiebreaker after 64 tense minutes of play.
Anticipation, accuracy and ace acceleration propelled Fritz through the tiebreaker.
Though Alcaraz had deployed the drop shot to great effect throughout the set, Fritz read it, ran it down and answered with a backhand for the mini break and a 2-1 lead. Alcaraz missed a pair of backhands as Fritz took a second mini-break extending to 5-2.
Reaching back, Fritz torched two aces in a row down the T sealing the 70-minute opener in emphatic fashion.
He means business 😤
Last year’s finalist @Taylor_Fritz97 takes the first set 7-6 off Alcaraz!#NittoATPFinals pic.twitter.com/tnWMFYd4e3
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) November 11, 2025
The 28-year-old Fritz served 78 percent and pumped two of his six aces in the extra session.
Driving the ball with conviction, Fritz applied the vise-grip of pressure on Alcaraz in the fifth game.
A marathon 14-minute game spanned eight deuce points and saw Alcaraz launch a 137 mph ace to save a second break point. Alcaraz, who had won 13 of 14 points at net by then, launched another ace down the T capping that epic hold by shutting his eyes and thrusting his arms up high holding for 3-2.
Bringing another level 🤯
What a way to save break point 🥵@carlosalcaraz #NittoATPFinals pic.twitter.com/Jqh291GcMD
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) November 11, 2025
Answering with his second love hold of the match, Fritz leveled after six games.
The American saved a break point to hold in the eighth game then banged a backhand winner down the line to draw even at deuce in the ninth game. Fritz had Alcaraz pinned in his forehand corner but in a shot choice he’s probably still ruing right now, he failed to hit to the open court, went right back at his opponent and Alcaraz made him pay with a forehand pass. That strike helped Alcaraz hold for 5-4.
Serving at 5-6, Fritz committed a pair of errors wrapped around an Alcaraz net-cord return winner to fall into a triple-set point hole.
On the second set point, Alcaraz ripped a running forehand pass that handcuffed Fritz at net scoring the only break of the second set to take it 7-5. Alcaraz celebrated hurling an uppercut into the air to force a final set—the first three-setter of the tournament—after two hours, 10 minutes of ferocious fighting.
The break in the final game of set two gave Alcaraz the advantage of serving first in the decider.
In the sixth game, Fritz hit his second double fault of the day and was flummoxed by a deep return that danced near his shoelaces to face triple break point. On the second break point, Alcaraz unleashed a deep drive into the corner forcing a netted running reply scoring the crucial break for 4-2. Alcaraz confirmed the break at 15 for 5-2.
Fritz went down fighting, fending off three match points then hitting a slick half-volley pick-up from the baseline that helped him hold for 3-5.
Pounding a pair of forehand winners brought Alcaraz three more match points and when Fritz missed a backhand this skirmish, 12 minutes shy of three hours, was over.
An exuberant Alcaraz raised his arms toward his boxes where coaches Juan Carlos Ferrero and Samuel Lopez leaped from their seats pumping their fists right back at him.
