Taylor Fritz Fires 37 Aces to Survive Molcan in Paris

Taylor Fritz hit 37 aces and still needed a third-set tiebreak to get past qualifier Alex Molcan, winning 6-7 (6), 7-5, 7-6 (5) on Wednesday in the second round of the Paris Masters. It took two hours, 30 minutes on Court 2, and Fritz had to come from a set down against a guy ranked 78th in the world.

A loss here would've basically ended his season. Fritz came to Paris chasing the last spot at the ATP Finals in Turin, and now he's into the round of 16 with that door still open.

How Fritz Got Through

This was a serving contest from start to finish. Molcan took the first set in a tiebreak and kept wriggling out of trouble on his own serve, saving six of the seven break points he faced. Fritz finally got the only break of the match late in the second set to level it at a set apiece, and that was the one crack he found all day.

The rest came off his racket. Those 37 aces did a lot of the work, and Fritz saved the only break point he faced all match. In the deciding tiebreak, he went from 5-5 to 7-5 to close it out. Molcan, who came through qualifying and then beat home wild card Titouan Droguet in the first round, deserved a lot of credit for pushing a top-15 player that far.

What It Means for Turin

Here's the math. Tennis Majors' Race to Turin breakdown has Fritz needing at least a semifinal run in Paris to stay in contention for the final ATP Finals spot, and only the title would lock it up. Wednesday helped a lot of contenders. Novak Djokovic lost to qualifier Rinky Hijikata and Alex de Minaur fell to Tomas Martin Etcheverry, so Fritz's path got a little clearer even as the bar stayed high.

He's been playing well indoors, too. He made the final in Lyon and the semifinals in Basel in his last two events, so this isn't a guy stumbling into November.

What's Next for Fritz

Fritz plays the winner of Arthur Fils and qualifier Tomas Machac in the round of 16 on Thursday. If he wins that, a quarterfinal with Carlos Alcaraz could be waiting. Alcaraz beat Alex Michelsen 7-6 (4), 6-3 on Court Central on Wednesday and gets Matteo Berrettini next, after Berrettini knocked out Ugo Humbert 7-6 (3), 7-5.

So the road's simple to describe and hard to walk: win Thursday, then likely beat the world No. 3 on Friday to keep the Turin dream alive.

Smacktok pick lean: Lean higher on Fritz's aces in the round of 16 on Thursday. He just hit 37 of them on this fast indoor court and won 83% of his first-serve points.