TURIN: Jannik Sinner got his title defense at the ATP Finals off to a solid start before his home fans with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Felix Auger-Aliassime on Monday.
To also claim the year-end No. 1 ranking. Sinner needs to win the season-ending event for the top eight players and hope Carlos Alcaraz doesn’t reach the final.
No. 8-ranked Auger-Aliassime appeared slowed by a left calf issue that arose near the end of the first set. He was twice treated by a trainer during the second set.
“It was very tough until 6-5 and then he had a physical issue,” said Sinner, referring to when he broke the Canadian’s serve to close out the first set.
Sinner won the title in Turin last year without dropping a set and hasn’t lost at the event since the 2023 final to Novak Djokovic.
There was a sign held aloft in the crowd that labeled Sinner “Italian pride” and Sinner was serenaded with a soccer-like chant of “Ole, ole, ole. Sin-ner, Sin-ner” during his on-court post-match interview.
“It’s a special tournament and place for me,” he said.
Sinner has won all four of his meetings with Auger-Aliassime this year, including a US Open semifinal and the recent Paris Masters final.
Sinner and Alexander Zverev lead the Bjorn Borg group with one win each after Zverev beat Ben Shelton on Sunday.
The top two finishers in each group advance to the semifinals.
Sinner won 89 percent of the points when he put his first serve in, claiming 32 of those 36 points.
“I have a very difficult group, with people who serve really, really strong,” Sinner said. “You need to remain focused practically the entire match because the moment you concede a break it’s tough to come back.”
Fritz beats weary Musetti
Earlier, Taylor Fritz beat late entry Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 6-4.
Unlike Musetti, who was making his debut, Fritz has pedigree in the tournament after reaching the final last year and the semifinals on debut in 2022. He’d also spent the past week preparing on the indoor court.
“A very important one to win I would say if I want to make it out of the group,” Fritz said. “He plays quite different with the slices and everything. So it took me some time to get used to it.
“I was able to avoid getting broken early in the match when he had some chances. Then I feel like I kind of got into the match more. … I thought I played really well.”
Musetti was a late replacement for Djokovic, who withdrew with an injured shoulder after beating the Italian in the Athens final on Saturday. Musetti arrived in Turin only on Sunday but couldn’t ride his hometown crowd’s support.
“I couldn’t be at 100 percent in shape, especially physically,” Musetti said. “Mentally, I’m really glad that I’m here. I’m super proud of myself, of my team, of what we achieved. Today, I tried to fight with what I had.”
Fritz and Alcaraz lead the Jimmy Connors group with one win each, while De Minaur and Musetti trail with one loss each.
On Tuesday, Fritz plays Alcaraz and Musetti plays Alex de Minaur.
