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Taylor Fritz ended his stay at the 2023 Swiss Indoors Basel after what is undoubtedly one of the most disappointing losses of his career. The American No. 1 was bettered by Alexander Shevchenko in the second round of the ATP 500 tournament on October 26.
Both players battled it out for nearly three hours in a contest that was decided by three tiebreaks. Taylor Fritz took the 57-minute long first set by winning the tiebreaker 9-7, with Shevchenko leveling the score in the second set tiebreaker 8-6. The Russian wrapped up his first Top-10 victory and the biggest win of his career in the third set by ousting the American, 6-7(7), 7-6(6), 7-6(5).
The statistics make the match even more astounding. There were 36 straight holds of serves, with both players, especially Fritz, floundering break points. The American could not covert 15 break points, including two match points opportunities to Shevchenko's three.
Fritz lost the match despite hitting 22 aces, 61 winners, 21 unforced errors, and winning ten more points (139 vs 129) than his opponent.
Shevchenko displayed composure under clutch points and showcased his variety with the timely deployment of drop shots to outmaneuver one of the tournament favorites.
Taylor Fritz, who also had a rough victory in his first-round match against Max Purcell, 7-6(7), 7-6(4), reflected on the heartbreaking loss and wrote on X (formerly Twitter):
"Tennis is rough."
Alexander Shevchenko, currently ranked World No. 83, has now qualified for his maiden ATP Tour quarterfinal and will face either No. 6 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime or Botic van de Zandschulp on October 27.
Taylor Fritz's path to ATP Finals gets even narrower with the early exit at Basel
This is Taylor Fritz's second premature exit from a crucial tournament in two weeks. Last week at the Japan Open, where he was the defending champion, the 25-year-old faced a shock defeat at the hands of local wildcard Shintaro Mochizuki in the second round.
Now, after losing to Shevchenko in Basel, Fritz's chances of qualifying for the ATP Finals for the second year in a row are in serious jeopardy. He needs a big result at the year's last Masters 1000 tournament in Pari next week.
Fritz needs to make it at least as far as the semifinal to keep himself in the running for the year-end championships, which will be played in Turin, Italy from November 12 to 19.
Taylor Fritz made his ATP Finals debut last year as the No. 8 seed and progressed to the semifinal. He defeated Rafael Nadal, Casper Ruud and Felix Auger-Aliassime in the group stages but lost to Novak Djokovic in the final four.
This year, defending champion Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Jannik Sinner, and Andrey Rublev have so far qualified for the Finals. Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, and Holger Rune currently occupy the remaining three spots with Fritz currently ranked No. 9 in the ATP Live Race to Turin.
