By Richard Pagliaro Thursday, November 13, 2025
Photo credit: Shi Tang/Getty
Inalpi Arena was once a haunted house Alex de Minaur.
De Minaur was winless in five previous ATP Finals matches and admits those painful losses almost eroded his competitive spirit.
Today, a determined De Minaur defeated the demon of doubt and knocked down Taylor Fritz In the end, they defeated Turin with a score of 7-6(3), 6-3.
It was a remarkable 48-hour rally for De Minaur, who failed to make it out against Lorenzo Mousset after leading 5-3, 30-15 in Tuesday night’s decider to suffer a 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 defeat.
That devastating defeat plunged the feisty Australian into a dark place, leading De Minaur to reveal “it got to the point where it was killing me mentally.”
Today, the man nicknamed “The Devil” is given a new lease of life after nearly dying in the round robin. De Minaur improved his 2025 record to 56-23, including an ATP-best 43-16 on hard courts.
Alex De Minaur, this is CLUTCH 🙌
Defeated Fritz 7-6 6-3 to retain his position. #NittoATP Finals The dream is alive! pic.twitter.com/gqSzJmWQu5
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) November 13, 2025
“Obviously, I just went through a heartbreak a few days ago and I came into the match today with my tactics,” De Minaur told Tennis Channel’s Prakash Amritraj after the match. “I’m going to live and die by the sword. I’m going to play my style of tennis, my style of game, and I know that’s the only way.
“I’m just glad that I was able to get some positive reinforcement in a long year while also dealing with a lot of adversity in this particular tournament.”
Talk about extraordinary resilience: It was De Minaur’s first career ATP Finals victory, keeping his semifinal hopes alive.
If top seed Carlos Alcaraz, who has already booked a semi-final spot in the Jimmy Connors group, beats Italian Lorenzo Musetti later today, De Minaur will join Alcaraz and Bjornborg group winner Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals. De Minaur will join Hall of Famer John Newcomb and Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt as the third Australian semifinalist in ATP Finals history.
If ninth-seeded Musetti defeats Alcaraz, the last player to qualify for the ATP Finals will advance to the semi-finals, giving Italy two spots in the semi-finals for the first time in ATP Finals history.
De Minaur turned his shoulder toward the shot and his serve actually outpaced Fritz, one of the biggest servers in the sport. De Minaur won 30 of 36 first-serve points, faced just one break point, and fought back from Love’s 30-point deficit in the final game with an ace, a service-volley and a serve.
In the final game, when pressure and self-doubt came hunting down their demons, the tenacious Australian counterpuncher boldly knocked these offenders down with a forward finishing kick.
“This was probably one of the darkest periods of my career, right,” De Minaur said. “Some people might think I’m exaggerating, but you know there’s a lot going on in my head.
“I’m a perfectionist. I demand a lot from myself, and sometimes that’s one of my biggest failures. So it was just a feel-good moment. No matter what happens, I walked into the match today with a clear mind. I calmed down and just wanted to go out there and play my way and forget about the results for a moment. Hey, look at that: I played some pretty good tennis today.”
Consider Fritz, who looked exhausted on Tuesday as he lost 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-3 to Alcaraz in a marathon match that lasted 2 hours and 48 minutes. After that loss, Fritz admitted that tendinitis left his grumpy knee feeling “completely cooked.”
Facing one of the fastest players in the sport, De Minaur, is not a panacea for knee pain. The flat-hitting demon repeatedly made the 6-foot-4 Fritz stoop and scrape calf-high shots off Turin’s fast pitch. In the first set, Fritz looked half a step slower, but his fiery forehand betrayed his aim with a series of errors down the wing. Fritz finished 2025 with a 53-23 record, missing the ATP Finals semifinals for the first time in three matches.
The defeat knocked 2024 finalist Fritz out of the semi-finals, and the U.S.’s year-end No. 1 ranking will also be affected, although Ben Shelton, who is winless in two round-robin rounds, must defeat Wimbledon champion Sinner to surpass Fritz for the top spot in U.S. tennis.
Knowing he needed to win in straight sets, De Minaur got off to a quick start thanks to three errors from Fritz to take a 2-1 lead. De Minaur broke serve after 30 points and the score was 3-1.
Fritz gradually found his range and fired a thrilling counterattack in the midfield to break serve at 15 points and trigger a wave of attacks in which he eventually won eight of nine points to tie the game at 3.
Facing a break point of 5 draws, Fritz hit an Ace. This heavy blow helped him chase the score to 6-5.
De Minaur forced a first-set decider when he hit a straight forehand pass to the baseline.
Fritz struck an ominous note, hitting a forehand to give up a small break on the first point. Fritz’s powerful forehand failed him on the break – he committed 10 forehand strikes in the set.
De Minaur, who was serving with more confidence than the American, made a forehand pass at 4-1 to get another small break, then hit a forehand winner to take a 6-1 lead and a couple of set points.
On his third set point, De Minaur took a set lead after 56 minutes of play when he hit a service winner on the middle stripe. In the first set, De Minaur served more efficiently than Fritz, winning 17 of 21 first-serve points.
De Minaur extended his advantage further as he scored 12 of the first 15 points in the second set, including a side-spinning backhand that brought a love break in the second game.
Fritz chased the score to 1-3, but De Minaur once again used serve and volley to chase the score to 4-1 at 15 minutes.
Serving at 2-5, Fritz went from corner to corner and De Minaur won match point with a smash, completing the showdown at 22 shots. Fritz showed some defensive defiance on the Australian’s volley before sending a backhand pass into the baseline. The flurry of action helped Fritz fight back and hold on to a 3-5 lead, allowing De Minaur to return to the position he held in the lead against Musetti on Tuesday.
As for the match point save…
ridiculous, @Taylor_Fritz97#NittoATP Finals pic.twitter.com/EVYXNlWRqk
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) November 13, 2025
When De Minaur’s serve dropped to -30 in the match, you could almost suggest the late great Chris Cornell singing “I fell on black days,” the sight and sound coming back to haunt the Australian.
This time, De Minaur withstood the pressure. The Australian hit an ace from the outside and then served and volleyed to level the score. De Minaur used a wide serve to get the second match point.
De Minaur turned Tuesday’s house of horrors into a coming-out party with his first win at the ATP Finals as he served his final serve on the catwalk to end the match in one hour and 34 minutes.
