The ATP Finals will continue on Tuesday and we have two Singles matches scheduled from the same Group, which has not been the case in the opening two days at the event thanks to the last place being fought out as late as Saturday.
You do have to wonder if that effort made by Lorenzo Musetti to merely earn a spot in Turin has sapped him of any remaining energy at the end of a long season, but first the two winners in this Group will face one another with a victory likely going to mean progression into the Semi Final.
Carlos Alcaraz - 3.5 games v Taylor Fritz: Both of these players produced wins in the opening Group matches at the ATP Finals having overcome some nervy moments. Being able to do so should mean both Carlos Alcaraz and Taylor Fritz are a little bit 'freer' as they meet in the second Group matches with the winner set to take their place in the Semi Final of the event.
Two wins is usually enough to progress, but that is not always the case and will be dependent on the other match to be played in the Evening Session.
It is no surprise that the organisers have set this one up for the Day Session and that is to ensure Italian Lorenzo Musetti is given the best chance to rest, recover and be prepared to play. With the last place at the Tour Finals only being confirmed on Saturday, the usual format of the event has not been in place in the Group Stage for those involved in this section and that means Taylor Fritz having to play on back to back days.
Tennis players are used to being in that position so it is not expected to be a big factor in this match and Taylor Fritz also has the confidence of having a win under his belt. Previous experiences at the Tour Finals have been very positive for the American and Fritz will feel his serve gives him a shot against any opponent he faces, even one that has had the better of the head to head like Carlos Alcaraz has had in this case.
Taylor Fritz did beat Carlos Alcaraz for the first time in Laver Cup action after the US Open, but it was back to the norm when they played in the Tokyo Final as the World Number 1 came through in straight sets to win yet another title.
While Carlos Alcaraz has not enjoyed the kind of successes you would expect at the ATP Finals, he is going to feel a lot better after battling through an opening win. The Spaniard is very, very comfortable on the hard courts and Carlos Alcaraz will be confident in the match up, even if Taylor Fritz is capable of frustrating him with the serve.
Whenever these two play one another, there is always going to be a lot of pressure on the Taylor Fritz serve knowing he becomes a bigger and bigger underdog within every point the longer the rally develops.
Carlos Alcaraz has had a big edge in the serving and returning numbers in the head to head and that has led to four wins in five matches played against one another. In three of the four wins, Alcaraz has had at least two more breaks of serve compared with Taylor Fritz and everything is pointing to the top Seed having the edge over the course of this latest match too.
There is room for improvement in the Carlos Alcaraz performance after the one produced to get the better of Alex De Minaur, but he has shown time and again that he has the game plan to make things very difficult for Taylor Fritz. The expectation is of more of the same and the likelihood is that Alcaraz will find two more breaks of serve than the World Number 6 and that should see him through to a cover in another winning effort.
Alex De Minaur - 2.5 games v Lorenzo Musetti: He has won the last three head to head matches against this opponent, including both played in 2025, and that may just give Lorenzo Musetti the belief to push on and win this Group match at the ATP Finals.
Another loss will likely mean elimination for whoever ends up on the wrong side of this match.
Lorenzo Musetti made it really clear how much he wanted to compete at the ATP Finals in Turin and that meant putting in a monumental effort in Athens when reaching the Final played on Saturday. He lost that to Novak Djokovic and needed the withdrawal to take his place at the ATP Finals, and you do have to wonder if there is much left in the tank.
It certainly did not look the case in a relatively straight-forward loss to Taylor Fritz on Monday- Lorenzo Musetti started off pretty well, but he looked more and more tired as the match went on and that was really evident in the service games.
A little more than twenty-four hours rest is not going to make a lot of difference and Musetti is going to need the Italian fans to get firmly behind him, as they did on Monday to their credit. Being an Evening Session match should mean the fans are more 'up' for this match, which can help too, but Lorenzo Musetti has played a lot of tennis since Friday and spent a lot of hours on the court.
All of that is going to be tested by Alex De Minaur who is one of the top defenders on the Tour and who will have last played on Sunday when coming up short against the World Number 1.
Losing both matches to Lorenzo Musetti in 2025 will perhaps be on the mind, but those were defeats on clay courts, while the previous loss in 2024 was on the grass courts. The sole hard court match was played in a very different atmosphere at the Australian Open in January 2022 when Alex De Minaur came through in four sets in an environment where he would have been heavily backed from the stands, the complete opposite to what awaits on Tuesday evening.
The most recent match between the pair in Madrid was dominated by Lorenzo Musetti, but Alex De Minaur will have regrets about the loss in Monte Carlo. In the first three matches between the pair, the Australian had dominated the number of Break Points created and De Minaur may be able to outlast Lorenzo Musetti in this match.
Alex De Minaur will need to serve better than he did in the loss to Carlos Alcaraz, but he can keep his opponent out there for long enough to slow him down. That will then really become evident on the return with De Minaur likely happy to sit in during rallies and just allow Lorenzo Musetti to be worn down and eventually this may lead to a solid enough victory to keep Alex De Minaur alive in the tournament.
The home fans will push Lorenzo Musetti to bring his best throughout, but the feeling is that he has left something in Athens after fighting so hard to merely make the ATP Finals in Turin and that will leave the World Number 9 short of the energy that is going to be needed in this match.
MY PICKS: Carlos Alcaraz - 3.5 Games @ 1.61 Bet365 (1 Unit)
Alex De Minaur - 2.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet365 (1 Unit)
ATP Finals: 4-0, + 3.22 Units (4 Units Staked, + 80.50% Yield)
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