TURIN – Carlos Alcaraz will end the year as world No 1 after beating Lorenzo Musetti at the ATP Finals 6-4, 6-1.
Heading into the semis with Alcaraz is Alex de Minaur who did his part to qualify with a straight-sets win against Taylor Fritz, 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.
Australia’s De Minaur had to win in two sets in order to have any chance of making it out of the group, and he will now face Sinner in the semis.
A double-Grand Slam winner this season, Alcaraz will be ahead of rival Jannik Sinner in the updated men’s rankings on Monday thanks to his success over Musetti which also sealed first place for the Spaniard in the Jimmy Connors Group at the season-ending tournament.
Alcaraz, who has won 70 matches so far this season, could lose his semifinal on Saturday and still finish 2025 top of the pile, even if Sinner retains his Finals title on home turf.
But the Spaniard looks in no mood to do that as he seeks his first Finals triumph, and he appears to be on course for yet another final showdown against Sinner, who qualified in first place from the Bjorn Borg Group.
Alcaraz has won four of his five meetings with Sinner this season, all of which have been in finals of top-level tournaments – with two deciding Grand Slams, AFP reported.
The 22-year-old won one of the best matches in tennis history against Sinner to retain his French Open title in June before losing the Wimbledon final to the Italian.
And he confidently dealt with Sinner’s countryman Musetti who has been eliminated and now needs to decide whether to take part in the Davis Cup Final 8, which is being held in Bologna next week.
A passionate crowd cheered on Musetti but it was to no avail for the world No 9 who only qualified for the Finals due to Novak Djokovic pulling out at the last minute.
Hard court specialist De Minaur won his 43rd match of the season on the surface, the most on the men’s tour, and was too much for Fritz once he prevailed in the first set tie-break.
Defeat for Fritz in one hour and 35 minutes ended the American’s participation in this year’s edition of the prestigious end-of-season tournament.
Alexander Zverev, meanwhile, was beaten for the fourth time this year by Italy’s Sinner in a 6-4 6-3 defeat at the ATP Finals, but the German does not believe the scoreline reflected his performance.
Zverev’s previous loss to Sinner came 11 days ago, going down 6-0 6-1 at the Paris Masters, but in Turin the two-time winner of the season-ending championships had the majority of break points, but unlike the Italian, he failed to take advantage.
Sinner forced break points in one game in each set, enough to claim victory and a place in the semifinals, while Zverev had seven across four games.
In the Vienna Open final 17 days ago, Zverev managed to win one set, but this time around the German could not find a way past Sinner’s serve.
“I think generally, the biggest difference was how he was serving on the break points,” Zverev said.
“I had more break points than him. I felt very good from the baseline, actually better than in Vienna almost, when we were in the rally.
“To be honest, he had two chances to break me, and he used both of them. I had a lot of chances, and I didn’t use any.”
Sinner hit 12 aces, many of which came at crucial points. In the opening game, the Italian served up four aces alone, two of which saved break points, and came from 0-40 down early in the second set with an ace winning that game.
“Sometimes when he’s serving like this, it’s even more difficult because, seven break points, seven first serves, not one second serve I had,” Zverev said.
“I was not even in the rally at all. I think I made one return. He hit a forehand winner.
“He improved his serve a lot. All in all, from the baseline, how the game was, I thought it was a good match, which maybe was closer than the score says.”
Zverev was asked if Sinner’s performance was unplayable.
“It’s not unplayable. I had many opportunities. He had one, he used the chance,” Zverev replied.
“Of course, I think it’s quite easy for you guys to ask these questions because the score says 6-4 6-3. If you look deeper into the match, I really believe that it could have been better than 6-4 6-3.
