Shelton’s debut dreams dashed, dramatic defeat dazes dejected De Minaur

Felix Auger-Aliassime got his ATP Finals bid up and running on Wednesday by beating Ben Shelton 4-6, 7-6 (9/7), 7-5 ahead of Jannik Sinner’s clash with Alexander Zverev.

Canada’s Auger-Aliassime won just his second ever match at the season-ending tournament with a battling display in Turin, coming back from a poor start to boost his hopes of reaching the semi-finals.

His win means that current world number one Sinner will qualify from the Bjorn Borg Group if he beats Zverev later in front of a partisan home crowd.

“There was a lot of firepower... obviously we know how good he can serve but I felt that if I was able to engage in the rallies, neutralise his serve maybe I would get a chance at some point,” said Auger-Aliassime to Sky Sport.

“I think I played great, very aggressive, hitting very good balls on backhand and forehand, so I went for it and in the end it paid off.”

Auger-Aliassime’s imposing service game, which included nine aces, eventually broke down Shelton whose erratic play cost him a debut win at the Finals.

The 25-year-old showed no signs of having the calf problem which affected his opening loss to Sinner, and he will face Zverev on Friday with a chance of making the knockout stage.

Shelton looked to be in control when he won the first set at the first opportunity, breaking Auger-Aliassime’s serve for the second time just after having his initial break cancelled out.

Auger-Aliassime won a tight second set which went with serve until the tie-break, when Shelton had to save three sets points before eventually conceding the match lead with a double-fault.

And he won the match at the third time of asking at the end of another bruising set, breaking Shelton and getting a win on the board.

Meanwhile, after Alex de Minaur snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in a devastating loss to Italian Lorenzo Musetti at the ATP Finals on Tuesday, the Australian said he cannot go on failing that way.

De Minaur battled back from going one set down to force a decider where he held a 5-3 lead, only for Musetti to win four games in succession in an incredible round-robin match in Turin that the Italian won 7-5 3-6 7-5.

“I think it’s probably a good thing I don’t express my feelings right now because they’re quite dark,” De Minaur said.

“It just feels like it’s been that type of year where I’ve had what feels like a whole lot of matches that should have gone my way and just somehow don’t.”

At the U.S. Open in September De Minaur won the first set against Felix Auger-Aliassime but ended up losing his sixth Grand Slam quarter-final. At Wimbledon in the fourth round, he won the opening set 6-1 against Novak Djokovic only to suffer a similar fate.

“It’s something that if it doesn’t get sorted, it’s going to eat me alive,” the Australian said.

“I need to get it sorted sooner rather than later. I don’t know how many times I can deal with a loss like this one.”

De Minaur lost his opening Jimmy Connors Group match against world number one Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday, and takes on last year’s losing finalist Taylor Fritz in his final round-robin match on Thursday, where defeat would end his time in Turin. The Australian was asked what else he can do to avoid another crushing loss.

“Just have a talk to my team and try to sort out these issues because these are issues that can’t keep happening,” De Minaur replied.

“I mean, if I really want to be serious about taking the next step in my career, these matches, I can’t lose them. I just can’t.”

Agencies