TURIN: Novak Djokovic stayed unbeaten in the round-robin stage of the ATP Finals as he overcame Russia’s Daniil Medvedev 6-3 6-7(5) 7-6(2) in a gruelling clash at the Pala Alpitour in Turin on Friday to top the Red Group.

Djokovic, who is chasing a sixth title at the season-ending championship to match Roger Federer’s record, drew first blood in a tight opening set to take a 5-3 lead and consolidated the break for the early advantage in the match.

Trailing 5-4 in the next, the Serbian saved three set points and drew level with a blistering cross-court shot at the end of a 26-shot rally but appeared to struggle physically in losing the tiebreak as he allowed Medvedev back into the match.

Having already reached the semi-finals after beating Andrey Rublev on Wednesday, some might have expected Djokovic to ease up and save his energy for Saturday’s semi-final meeting with Taylor Fritz but the 35-year-old responded in style.

The Serbian battled back from a break down in the decider to hand Medvedev his third straight defeat after three hours and five minutes.

“Daniil and I have had some battles in the past and I knew coming into the match it was going to be his last of the season and he wouldn’t want to finish with a loss,” Djokovic said.

“I started off well, had chances in the second set, had break points but he played very well in those decisive points. He was playing really quick. I didn’t feel physically well in the third, struggled a lot. It’s a battle and it’s a fight.

“Being able to find the last drop of energy to come back ... at 4-5 (in the third set) I managed to read his serve and anticipate well and got myself in a good position.”

On Thursday, American Taylor Fritz came through a draining winner-take-all encounter with the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6 (7/4), 6-7 (5/7), 6-2.

Fritz, who was a late replacement at the Finals for injured world number one Carlos Alcaraz, had made a terrific start to the tournament with victory over Nadal. But defeat at the hands of Ruud meant that his match with Auger-Aliassime was a play-off for the semi-finals.

Both big servers, they came out all guns blazing and neither player conceded a single break point in the opening set. Fritz quickly took the advantage in the tie-break to lead 6/3, before taking it with his second set point.

The second set was equally tight although this time it was the 22-year-old Canadian who got the advantage in the tie-break.

Fritz finally found a way through his opponent’s serve to go 4-2 in the third, going on to win the match after two hours 44 minutes.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2022