Awesome Alcaraz aces Australian adversary as ailing Auger-Aliassim annihilated at ATP Finals
- Last updated: November 12, 2025 | 09:36
Carlos Alcaraz battled to victory over Taylor Fritz at the ATP Finals on Tuesday, moving to within one win of securing the year-end number one ranking for the second time.
The five-time Grand Slam champion made it two wins from two in the Jimmy Connors Group with a comeback 6-7 (2/7), 7-5, 6-3 victory over last year’s runner-up Fritz in Turin.
He will qualify for the semi-finals if Alex de Minaur beats home hope Lorenzo Musetti in Tuesday’s second match.
Alcaraz, who was replaced by rival Jannik Sinner as world number one following the Paris Masters earlier this month, will finish 2025 at the top of the rankings if he beats Musetti on Thursday.
Sinner has to successfully defend his Finals title, unbeaten, to have any chance of ending the season as number one for a second straight year.
Alcaraz now holds a 5-1 winning record against Fritz, whose only win against the Spaniard came at the Laver Cup in September.
The United States’ Fritz will face De Minaur in his last group contest.
Fritz swept aside Musetti in his opener on Monday with a dominant serving display.
Alcaraz immediately showed he would put up stronger resistance on return, but Fritz managed to hold in a lengthy first game, hitting three aces and saving two break points.
The Spaniard also had to dig deep to level at 1-1, staving off three break points himself.
He appeared to have made the most of that mistake as Fritz was broken for the first time in the tournament, but Alcaraz could not consolidate the break and dropped serve too.
Both players’ serves continued to be tested, with Alcaraz seeing off two more break points in the eighth game as the first set eventually went to a tie-break.
But Fritz powered through the breaker, sealing a one-set lead after 70 minutes with his sixth ace.
Some brutal hitting with his forehand brought up the first break point of the second set for Fritz in the fifth game, but Alcaraz came out on top in a dramatic rally to save it.
Alcaraz saw off a second break point with an ace and finally got out of the draining, 21-minute service game when Fritz fired long, celebrating as if he had won the match.
Fritz fought through a difficult game himself to make it 4-all after Alcaraz netted a return on break point, as the second set edged towards another tie-break.
Earlier, Italy’s Jannik Sinner got his title defence off to a solid start with a dominant straight sets win over ailing Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime at the ATP Finals on Monday in Turin.
Nine days after their duel in the final of the Paris Masters, Sinner was again the strongest winning 7-5, 6-1.
But fellow Italian Lorenzo Musetti was earlier outclassed 6-3, 6-4 by American Taylor Fritz.
After a tight first set, Sinner swept aside Auger-Aliassime, who had been hampered by a left calf injury by breaking serve to rush to a 3-0 lead.
He broke him a second time to close out the match with an ace after one hour 41 minutes.
“Obviously winning the first match is very important in this competition and this format,” said 24-year-old Sinner.
“It was a very tough match until 6-5. I had some chances to break. He served very well, only once I missed a return, but it can happen. He played some very aggressive tennis, so I’m happy to overcome a very tough test today.
“I hope it’s nothing too serious,” Sinner added of his rival. “I wish him obviously a very speedy recovery and hopefully he is back to 100 percent physically.”
Sinner notched his 27th consecutive victory on his preferred indoor hard courts surface and took the lead in the Bjorn Borg Group, which will also see the world number two face Germany’s Alexander Zverev and American Ben Shelton.
The native of South Tyrol, the German-speaking region of northeastern Italy, won the 2024 edition of the tournament which brings together the eight best players of the year, by stringing together five wins without dropping a single set.
Agencies