Eight games lost in a row
Arthur Fils started the Basel quarter-final the way he wanted to, with a break in the opening game and a 2-0 lead against Taylor Fritz. Then it fell apart. The Frenchman, seeded second and ranked eighth, lost eight consecutive games and stopped playing after 45 minutes with the American ahead 6-2, 2-0.
The warning signs came at the end of the first set, when Fils called the doctor over for pain in the lower left back and left the court for treatment. He dropped serve again at the start of the second set. Once Fritz confirmed the break, Fils decided to stop.
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Paris in three days
The timing is awkward. The Paris Masters starts on Monday, and Fils is still chasing a place at the season-ending event in Turin, which runs from November 15 to 22. He sits seventh in the Race, with four spots still to be filled, so he stays in a good position despite the retirement.
The back is what makes the story uncomfortable. Fils lost long months in 2025 to a stress fracture in that area, a lay-off that cost him a large part of last season. A recurrence is not confirmed, and nothing has been said about the severity, but any French fan watching him leave the court will have remembered it.
Fritz, ranked 13th, moves into the last four, where he plays Monaco’s Valentin Vacherot on Saturday.
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