TURIN, Italy (AP) — Defending champion Jannik Sinner sealed a semifinal spot at the ATP Finals with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Alexander Zverev before his home fans on Wednesday.
Sinner extended his winning streak on indoor hard courts to 28 matches — stretching back to his loss to Novak Djokovic in the final of this event two years ago.
It was Sinner’s fifth straight victory over Zverev — a run that includes this year’s Australian Open final and recent meetings in Vienna and Paris.
The second-ranked Sinner still has a chance to finish the year at No. 1. But he needs to win the tournament and hope that Carlos Alcaraz doesn’t win another match.
Sinner leads the Bjorn Borg group with two wins, while Zverev and Felix Auger-Aliassime have one win each. Ben Shelton trails without a victory.
Alcaraz has also won his opening two matches and leads the Jimmy Connors group.
The top two finishers in each group advance to the semifinals.
Sinner hasn’t lost a set in this event since getting beat by Djokovic two years ago. When he was challenged by Zverev, the Italian consistently raised his level.
Sinner saved two break points in the opening game of the match — both with aces. Then he battled back from 0-40 down to hold serve early in the second set. And by the end, Sinner had saved all seven of the break points that he faced.
Sinner also led 12-7 in aces.
“I served very well on the important points,” Sinner said. “There weren’t that many long rallies.”
Zverev won the finals in 2018 and 2021.
Auger-Aliassime beats Shelton
Eighth-seed Auger-Aliassime claimed his first win at this year’s finals by battling back to beat Shelton 4-6, 7-6 (7), 7-5.
“He was playing much better than me at the start. It’s not often that I get broken twice in the first set indoors,” Auger-Aliassime said. “It was a weird start, but as the match went on I was finding ways to put returns in the court.
“Once we engaged in the rallies, I felt like I could win more. You just have to fight, believe, and play the next point the right way.”
Shelton dominated the first set and got an early break but a terrible game from him, when he was serving for the set, saw Auger-Aliassime break back.
Shelton, playing the finals for the first time, showed his frustration by hitting his racket on the ground. It flew out of his hand and toward spectators. No one was hit, but he received a code violation warning.
The American recovered to break straight back and take the opening set.
The second set went with serve and Shelton managed to save three set points in the tiebreaker but a double fault — shortly after taking a tumble — saw Auger-Aliassime pull level.
The Canadian never looked back and, although Shelton managed to fend off two break points early in the decider, Auger-Aliassime broke him in the final game, sealing the victory on his third match point.
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