Alex de Minaur's five-year misery continues as Daniil Medvedev meltdown stuns at ATP Finals

Alex de Minaur has made an inauspicious start to his campaign at the ATP Finals, losing to World No.1 Jannik Sinner for the eighth time in eight attempts. De Minaur is the first Australian to play in the ATP Finals since Lleyton Hewitt in 2004, but his hopes of going all the way took a blow on Sunday night.

The Australian World No.8 suffered a 3-6 4-6 loss to Italian star Sinner in Turin, taking his career head-to-head record against Sinner to 0-8. Dating back to 2019 when they first played at ATP level, de Minaur hasn't managed to beat the Italian in eight meetings.

And in those eight matches, de Minaur has only won one set. The only joy de Minaur has had against Sinner was a walkover at the Paris Masters in 2023 when the Italian had to withdraw injured.

Apart from a brief spell early in the match on Sunday when de Minaur earned a break to go 2-1, it was all Sinner - even after he'd had a four-week break. Once the Italian found a bit of rhythm, he broke straight back and reeled off four games in a row to control proceedings and take his 14th straight set off the Aussie.

The World No.8 battled gallantly to stay in the contest at the start of the second. But once Sinner broke again there was an air of inevitability about the result.

All hope isn't lost for the Australian, who can advance to the semis if he finishes above the other two players in his group - Taylor Fritz and Daniil Medvedev. He'll play Medvedev on Tuesday and Fritz on Wednesday (Australian time) in the round-robin format, with the top two players from the two groups making the final four.

Daniil Medvedev cops backlash over meltdown at ATP Finals

Sinner joined Fritz in the winner's circle on the opening day of the $23 million event, after the American kept his cool to beat a raging Daniil Medvedev. The Russian smashed his racquet and even held it the wrong way at one stage as he suffered an extraordinary meltdown at the season-ending event.

Fritz, who reached the semi-finals on his ATP Finals debut two years ago, produced a level-headed display to claim a 6-4 6-3 victory in the tournament's opening match. The same can't said for Medvedev, who earned a warning for smashing his racquet after serving three straight double-faults to end the opening set.

In the second, the Russian completely lost his cool again after a mishit from Fritz landed on the baseline to seal the crucial break for 4-2. Medvedev threw his racquet and swiped at a court-side microphone, earning a point penalty from the chair umpire.

The match was over soon afterwards, with fifth seed Fritz determined to keep his focus no matter what was happening down the other end of the court. "I definitely felt like at 5-3 he was going to reset and try as hard as he could to break me," said the American.

"It's very easy sometimes when someone's doing that to relax and think they're just going to be done. Then you drop your level. I just had to tell myself stay focused at 5-3, play a really good game because he was going to fight for that game. Luckily I served a great game."

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After the match, Medvedev replied "100 percent" when asked if he was looking forward to the gruelling season coming to a close. "I'm tired to fight against something that doesn't depend on myself," he told reporters. "I'll see how it goes. Today actually I had my chances. I'll have them the next matches. If it doesn't work out, I go on holiday. I'm happy."

The Russian's behaviour was met with whistles from the disapproving crowd in Turin. Fans were also full of condemnation on social media, describing Medvedev's behaviour as "pathetic" and "disrespectful".

with agencies