Fritz leads American quartet into Paris Masters second round
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Taylor Fritz kept his hopes of qualifying for the season-ending ATP Finals alive.
PARIS (Reuters) -Ninth seed Taylor Fritz kept his hopes of qualifying for the season-ending ATP Finals alive when he was among four Americans to record straight sets victories at the Paris Masters on Monday to move into the second round.
Fritz, the highest-seeded American in the draw beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-5 6-2 on the back of a decent first serve despite trailing by a break in the opening set.
Fritz hit only 11 winners to the Spaniard s 20 but he converted five break points to wrap up the match in 90 minutes to beat Davidovich Fokina for the first time in three meetings.
"Really happy, he s a tough person to play against. He s got weapons on both sides, he s extremely quick as well, so there s nowhere you can really play with a lot of safety," Fritz said.
"He makes a lot of crazy shots and he s beaten me the past two times."
Fritz needs to reach the final to have any chance of sealing a place in the ATP Finals in Turin ahead of Andrey Rublev or Felix Auger-Aliassime, who has won his last three tournaments.
"Turin is still in the picture, obviously, but there s not much else I really could have done. I won Tokyo," he added.
"Felix has played really, really well, so he deserves it, but I am going to try to steal his spot this week for sure."
Fellow American John Isner can remove one hurdle in the form of Rublev after he booked a place in the second round against the Russian with a 6-4 7-6(3) win over Germany s Oscar Otte.
The towering 37-year-old Isner, who finished runner-up to Andy Murray in 2016, fired 19 aces in the contest to wrap things up in 82 minutes.
French wildcard Gilles Simon battled back from a set down to beat Britain s Andy Murray 4-6 7-5 6-3.
Frances Tiafoe also moved into the second round without conceding a break point with a 6-4 6-4 win over Lorenzo Sonego while fellow American Maxime Cressy ousted Argentine Diego Schwartzman 6-3 6-3.
In a mixed day for the Italians, Lorenzo Musetti beat Marin Cilic in straight sets to advance but 11th seed Jannik Sinner was knocked out by Swiss qualifier Marc-Andrea Huesler who is ranked 49 places below him.
Defending champion Novak Djokovic, world number one Carlos Alcaraz, Rafa Nadal and Daniil Medvedev are among the main seeds who received a bye into the second round.
