TURIN, Italy — Carlos Alcaraz bought off to a very good begin on his quest for his first ATP Finals title and year-end No. 1 rating with a straight-sets win over Alex de Minaur on Sunday.
Alcaraz recovered from a tumultuous first set to beat seventh-seeded de Minaur 7-6 (5), 6-2 within the opening match of the season’s ultimate match between the highest eight males’s gamers.
Ben Shelton saved three set factors in his ATP Finals debut as two-time champion Alexander Zverev defeated the American 6-3, 7-6 (6).
High seed Alcaraz is locked in a battle with defending champion Jannik Sinner to complete the yr in first place, and the Spaniard will safe his spot no matter his rival’s outcomes if he reaches the ultimate.
This was the primary time Alcaraz had received the opening spherical of the ATP Finals.
“This match is certainly top-of-the-line on our tour,” Alcaraz mentioned. “We’re taking part in in opposition to the most effective gamers on the earth and it reveals how tough and necessary it’s.
“I’ve struggled in recent times to finish the yr with motivation. This yr is a little bit totally different, and I am happy with that. I am doing the suitable issues to present myself an opportunity to win this match.”
Alcaraz appeared to have agency management within the first set. He had already damaged in opposition to de Minaur and threatened to do the identical within the sixth sport to take a 5-1 lead, however the Australian fought again to deuce and prevented one other break level to take the sport.
De Minaur then broke again to take the set to a tiebreak, constructing a 5-3 benefit earlier than Alcaraz fought again.
The 22-year-old Alcaraz dominated the second set, dropping serve early however profitable the remainder of the match, clinching the win with a crosscourt backhand on his second match level.
Taylor Fritz can also be in Jimmy Connors’ group with Alcaraz, De Minaur and Lorenzo Musetti rather than the injured Novak Djokovic.
The Bjorn Borg group contains Sinner, Zverev, Shelton and Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Third-seeded Zverev took simply 28 minutes to shut out the primary set in opposition to Shelton, however Shelton appeared to step up a gear after that and had a golden probability to tie the match in a second-set tiebreaker.
Shelton raced to a 4-0 lead and squandered three set factors earlier than firing a backhand extensive to present Zverev the win after 93 minutes.
The highest two from every group advance to the semifinals.
