ATP Finals contenders Taylor Fritz, Felix Auger-Aliassime a round away from Paris Masters showdown

When Taylor Fritz triumphed over Frances Tiafoe to win the ATP 500 event in Tokyo on October 9, he vaulted three places to No. 7 in the Race to Turin with 2885 points to his name.

Coming into this week’s Paris Masters, Fritz now finds himself on the outside looking in to the ATP Finals. Felix Auger-Aliassime, who trailed Fritz by five points when the October 10 race rankings were published, has since surged past the American—and later Andrey Rublev—to No. 6 by lifting three trophies in three weeks.

“If Felix takes the spot from me by winning three titles in a row, too good,” Fritz told Prakash Amritraj on Tennis Channel Monday.

Noting the extra importance of taking this week one match at a time, Fritz swept past Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, 7-5, 6-2, after 90 minutes. If he and Auger-Aliassime each win their second-round encounters, it will confirm a mouthwatering clash between the pair of Turin hopefuls.

“When we kind of look back at this whole year, any time I’ve been able to just win a couple matches in a tournament, I’ve started playing really well,” said Fritz. “I just need to get past those first couple matches.”

The Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. native, who turned 25 last Friday, improved to 43-18 on the year. He knows what it takes to win at this level, having celebrated his first Masters 1000 crown at Indian Wells in March.

From his side, Fritz needs to reach the Bercy final to have a shot at making his first year-end championships. Countryman John Isner can help the cause.

The 37-year-old Isner defeated qualifier Oscar Otte, 6-4, 7-6 (3), to line up a showdown with Rublev. The seventh-seeded Russian began the tournament with a 540-point lead over Fritz in the final qualifying position after both competitors lost their respective second-rounders in Vienna last week.