Fritz frustrates Medvedev and the Russian loses his temper at the ATP Finals. Sinner beats De Minaur

TURIN, Italy (AP) — US Open finalist Taylor Fritz frustrated Daniil Medvedev so much that the Russian smashed his racket and scored a point in the American’s 6-4, 6-3 win in the opening game ATP finals on Sunday.

Medvedev received two code violations from the referee because of his behavior.

“I get angry and frustrated. This time entirely with myself, not with anyone else. Only with myself,” Medvedev said.

Later, The front runner Jannik Sinner thrilled his home fans with a 6:3, 6:4 victory over final debutant Alex de Minaur.

The other group starts on Monday with Carlos Alcaraz against Casper Ruud and Alexander Zverev against Andrey Rublev.

The top two finishers in each round-robin group advance to the semifinals.

The first set was virtually dead until Medvedev made three double faults in the final game and handed the set to Fritz.

Medvedev then went to his bench in a fit of anger.

Medvedev first hit the bench with his racket, causing a slight dent. He then hit the hard court at the Inalpi Arena again with the racket, mangled the frame, creating a twisted mess – prompting him to throw it behind him.

“I’ve had this every day, day after day, for about two, three years. Every exercise is a fight. “Every game is a fight,” said Medvedev. “Now I no longer feel any joy in being on the pitch.”

Midway through the second set, Medvedev was deducted a point after he broke and lost his composure again.

Medvedev then pretended to return the serve with the racket in the wrong direction – he held it so that the end of the racket and the handle were facing Fritz. This triggered whistles from the audience and Medvedev changed the racket position shortly before Fritz served.

“I thought, ‘Whatever, I lost the match. “I don’t care,” Medvedev said.

Fritz didn’t mind Medvedev’s behavior.

“I just laughed. Honestly, I think he’s really funny,” Fritz said. “Even when he’s not playing against me, he always makes me laugh.”

Fritz won long and memorable rallies at the start of each set, one by 26 shots and one by 30 shots.

“It was huge,” Fritz said. “I just fought through it. … I thought I did a good job showing him that I wasn’t going to give him a lot of free points.”

It was points like these that left Medvedev demoralized.

“In the truest sense of the word, anyone can now take part in the rally with me,” Medvedev said.

In September, at the US Open, Fritz became the first American to reach a Grand Slam final in 15 years, but lost the championship match to top seed Jannik Sinner.

The Californian is taking part in the season-ending event for the eight best players of the year for the second time. Two years ago, Fritz defeated Rafael Nadal in his opening match and lost to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.

Fritz will get a rematch with Sinner later in the week. Djokovic withdrew.

Sinner’s carrot-clad fans come out in full force

Many spectators were dressed in orange or wore carrot costumes in honor of Sinner’s symbolic vegetable – and his hair color.

Sinner, who lost the final to Djokovic last year, showed no signs of nervousness as he opened with an ace on the first point of the match and promptly held serve.

However, the Italian was broken in his second service game. But he responded by winning four games in a row to take control as fans chanted “Ole, Ole, Ole, Sin-ner, Sin-ner” at substitutions.

Sinner improved to 8-0 in his career against De Minaur.

“His ball speed, in my eyes, is a lot faster than basically other guys,” De Minaur said. “It’s very hard to find gaps in your game.”

It will be the first time Sinner has played at home since it was revealed ahead of his US Open title that he tested positive on two separate drug tests this year.

A decision was made to clear Sinner of wrongdoing Appealed by the World Anti-Doping Agency in September. A final decision in the case is expected early next year.

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AP Tennis: