ATP Finals: Auger-Aliassime beats Shelton to get off mark

TURIN: 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 semifinals.

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.

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.

Lorenzo Musetti earned his maiden victory at the ATP Tour finals when he battled past Alex de Minaur 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 in a thriller.

Musetti mounted a stunning comeback from 3-5 down in the deciding set to move to 1–1 in the Jimmy Connors Group and keep his qualification hopes firmly intact.

Musetti will face the No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings Carlos Alcaraz in his third match on Thursday. The Spaniard, aiming to win the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time, is 2-0 this week, having beaten De Minaur and Fritz. All four players can still qualify for the semi-finals.

The 23-year-old Italian sealed victory on his second match point when he blasted a forehand winner pass on the run before he celebrated with his team courtside, ATP reports.

After fading in the second set, Musetti rediscovered his spark when it mattered most. He recovered from losing a breathtaking 31-shot rally at 4–3, 30/30, one that featured a forehand tweener and left both players flat on the court, before mounting a dramatic late charge.

When De Minaur served for the match, Musetti struck back to break, then rode a wave of momentum and noise to seal one of the biggest wins of his season after two hours and 47 minutes.

Competing in the ATP Tour Finals for the first time, Musetti qualified on the back of a career-best campaign. He reached finals in Monte-Carlo, Chengdu and most recently, Athens last week, compiling a 45–21 record on the season, according to the ATP Win/Loss Index.

Before 2025, the Italian had never recorded more than 40 tour-level wins in a single year, a milestone he has now left well behind. Agencies

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