Jannik Sinner began his ATP Finals title defence by sweeping aside a physically hampered Felix Auger-Aliassime in front of a passionate Turin crowd. The Italian second seed was imperious on serve in a 7-5 6-1 win over the Canadian.
Eighth seed Auger-Aliassime was brilliantly aggressive in a competitive first set and was two points away from forcing a tie-break before tweaking his left calf. The 25-year-old called for the physiotherapist twice in the second set, where he managed just one game.
Victory puts Sinner top of the Bjorn Borg Group as he bids to secure the year-end world number one ranking. Sinner has not lost to a top-10 player who is not Carlos Alcaraz since being beaten by Andrey Rublev in August 2024 — at a tournament where he played two matches in one day.
Earlier, American world number six Taylor Fritz shone on serve to beat Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti 6-3 6-4 in the Jimmy Connors Group. Fritz, runner-up to Sinner last year, dropped just three points on serve in the second set — two of those were in the final game.
Sinner has been the dominant force on indoor hard courts, with this his 27th victory in a row on the surface. His serve was superb in a high-quality first set: he won 24 of 27 first-serve points, did not lose a single point behind his first serve and did not face a break point. He was taken to deuce just once in 10 service games and sealed victory with an ace before being serenaded by his home crowd.
Auger-Aliassime had taken a set off Sinner during his run to the US Open final and began aggressively again, rushing Sinner and occasionally matching him shot-for-shot. But the calf problem at 6-5, 30-0 up had an immediate impact, with Auger-Aliassime struggling to move and sending shots long as he tried to hit his way out of trouble.
Sinner and rival Alcaraz are both in contention for the year-end number one ranking in Turin. Sinner must defend his title — and hope Alcaraz loses a group match and does not reach the final — to retain the top spot. Alcaraz, in the opposite group to Sinner, began his campaign with a straight-sets win over Alex de Minaur on Sunday.
Musetti only secured his place at the season-ending event on Sunday, when Novak Djokovic withdrew after beating him in the Athens Open final. He had four early break opportunities against Fritz but could not convert them before fatigue set in, with seven of his nine service games going to deuce. “I was a little shaky at the start and I was letting him dictate a little too much,” Fritz, 28, told Sky Sports. “It was a bit nervy for me, which is expected. I felt I was able to loosen up and I just started playing a lot better.”
In the doubles, Britons Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski began their campaign with a 6-3 7-5 win over Salvadoran Marcelo Arevalo and Croatia’s Mate Pavic. No all-British pair has ever won the season-ending title, with Salisbury and American partner Rajeev Ram lifting it in 2022 and 2023. Britain’s Henry Patten and Finnish partner Harri Heliovaara also won their opening match, beating Americans Christian Harrison and Evan King 6-4 6-4.
