TURIN, Italy: Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime reached the last four of the ATP Finals with a 6-4 7-6(4) round-robin win over two-times winner Alexander Zverev on Friday and Jannik Sinner extended his indoor hardcourt unbeaten run by beating American Ben Shelton.
Germany’s Zverev and Auger-Aliassime both defeated Shelton and lost to Sinner to set up a winner-takes-all clash for the runner--up spot in the Bjorn Borg Group and the Canadian clinched a place in Saturday’s semifinal against world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz.
“You want to be in the final but I’ll have to go through a great player to do that,” Auger-Aliassime said.
“I will take my chance if I have it.”
Zverev was left to rue his failure to take any of his seven break points against Sinner, and it was a similarly frustrating story against the Canadian.
The German held break points in both sets but again could not make them count, and the Canadian broke Zverev at 5-4 up to take the first set, before going on to win the second set tiebreak.
Auger-Aliassime was put under pressure in the opening set, saving break points at 2-2 and 4-4, while Zverev came back from 0-40 down only to lose serve and hand the Canadian the set.
Zverev spent much of the second set gesturing to his team, with Auger-Aliassime winning his first two service games to love before both players were guilty of throwing away chances to break.
Auger-Aliassime let slip a 2-0 lead in the tiebreak, but when Zverev stepped up to serve at 4-5, the Canadian came through to earn consecutive minibreaks and send the German home.
Sinner stays unbeaten
Sinner is unbeaten in 29 matches on indoor hardcourt after a 6-3 7-6(3) victory over Shelton in their dead rubber round-robin match.
There was a relaxed atmosphere in the Inalpi Arena as the Italian had already secured top spot in the group and a semifinal against Alex de Minaur.
Shelton was broken in the opening and closing games of the first set, unable to take advantage of a break point at 2-1 down while Sinner was always capable of pulling out an ace at the crucial time, hitting two in that fourth game to hold serve.
The American put up more fight in the second set, serving to love on three occasions, rescuing a match point at 5-4 down and forcing Sinner into a tiebreak for the first time in the last two editions of the season-ending championships, before the Italian sealed the win.
Sinner’s chances of ending the year as world number one evaporated on Thursday when Alcaraz completed a clean sweep in the Jimmy Connors Group with a win over Lorenzo Musetti, leaving little at stake against Shelton apart from his unbeaten run.
Before Sinner and Shelton emerged, Alcaraz was presented on court with the ATP year-end world No. 1 trophy, which the Italian won last year, and the pair may yet do battle one last time in 2025 in Sunday’s final.
“It’s a pleasure being the No. 1 of the world, it’s something that I’m working really hard for every day, it is a goal to be honest,” Alcaraz said.
“For me it’s a great achievement. It means the world to me and I’m just really proud and happy.”
