WATCH the ATP Finals LIVE in Australia on beIN SPORTS | Subscribe here and take advantage of our 7-day FREE TRIAL

The American surged to a 6-4, 6-3 victory over fourth seed Daniil Medvedev to make a perfect start in his second appearance at the season finale. Fritz capitalised on an error-strewn opening set from Medvedev, during which he hit seven double faults, before pulling clear in the second. 

“[The serve] was a big part of it for sure,” said Fritz, who won 85 per cent (33/39) of first-serve points, according to Infosys ATP Stats. “He’s such a good returner. You can make a lot of first serves, but if they are not very high quality, he just puts so many returns in the court.

“It was huge for me, I hit a lot of lines, a lot of spots to start out games. I got out of a lot of service games [with] no pressure. Some of the ones we got tight in, I was either able to grind through the long rallies or get myself some free points.”

Fritz, who reached the semi-finals on his debut in 2022, stood firm in the face of a strong reaction from Medvedev in the early stages of the second set. After saving all three of the break points he faced, the fifth seed pounced in the sixth game to move into an eventually unassailable lead.

“My first time [at the Nitto ATP Finals], I was the alternate, no one really expected much of me here,” added Fritz, who improved to 50-21 on the season. “So, I was playing with house money, no pressure. This time, I’m fifth, and I really want to make it out of the group stage. I’m putting more expectation on myself to do better, I’m just a batter player and I’m super happy with how I played today.”

After levelling the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series at 1-1, Fritz moved to 1-0 in the Ilie Nastase Group. The other contenders awaiting in the group stages are World No. 1 Jannik Sinner and Nitto ATP Finals debutant Alex de Minaur, who are set to clash on Saturday evening.

Medvedev, the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals champion, is bidding to win the same event multiple times for the first time in his career, having won each of his 20 career titles at different events.