Zverev Battles Felix Auger-Aliassime in ATP World Tour Finals Showdown
Overview
The typical complications of round-robin tennis typically lead to by this stage of the ATP Finals viewers are commonly puzzled, hastily looking for a computing device and trying to work out the brain-busting permutations of qualification. Yet this evening's contest between Alexander Zverev and Felix Auger-Aliassime, thankfully, is straightforward. This is a winner-takes-all affair: the successful player sets up a semifinal battle against Carlos Alcaraz at this year-end tournament; the defeated player heads out.
The German is the frontrunner for this: the world No 3 is the more accomplished player, has claimed the title at this tournament previously on two instances and holds the advantage in their personal record with six victories against three defeats, securing victories in both their past encounters on an covered hard surface.
Yet … this type of playing field on which the Canadian has won most of his championships, he is full of confidence after his compelling comeback against Shelton on recently and he took out Zverev in the US Open third round in late summer. Additionally, conditions are faster in Turin than at the US Open venue, which provides an additional advantage in Auger-Aliassime's favour.
Should Zverev be cautious, similar to his performance against Sinner, and Auger-Aliassime takes it to the European player with his effective service game and bold strategy, it might very well be the North American athlete – the former prodigy who was once in line ahead of the Spanish and Italian stars to succeed the tennis icons – who obtains the uncertain distinction of playing against the top-ranked player the next day.
The match starts: at about 8.30pm local time, 19:30 Greenwich Mean Time.
