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11/15 16:19 CST Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner to meet again in ATP Finals
showdown
Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner to meet again in ATP Finals showdown
TURIN, Italy (AP) --- Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have been playing each
other nearly all year for the biggest titles in tennis.
Add one more important trophy that they will vie for on Sunday: the ATP Finals.
The top-ranked Alcaraz beat Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-2, 6-4 and No. 2 Sinner
defeated Alex de Minaur 7-5, 6-2 before his Italian home crowd in the
semifinals on Saturday to set up another meeting between the two players who
have distanced themselves from the rest of the field.
"I expect at least three to four people in the crowd cheering for me," Alcaraz
said with a smile. "It's going to be really difficult. I'm just really happy to
see Jannik in another final. Every time we face each other in a final we raise
our level to the top."
Alcaraz already secured the year-ending No. 1 ranking but will be contesting
his first final at the event for the year's top eight players.
"The No. 1 means that I've been playing really good during the whole season,
(on all) surfaces," Alcaraz said. "He's playing the best on indoor courts.
We're playing in front of his home crowd. I would say he's the favorite."
Sinner will be playing in his third consecutive final in Turin and aiming for
his second consecutive trophy. The Italian hasn't dropped a set at the Finals
since getting beaten by Novak Djokovic in the 2023 championship match --- a run
of 18 consecutive sets.
"These are matches I look forward to," Sinner said. "Also to see for me where
my level really is but at the same time it's great before the off-season to
have this matchup ... of course, I feel comfortable on an indoor hard court."
Sinner and Alcaraz have met in the last three Grand Slam finals: Alcaraz beat
Sinner in a fifth-set tiebreaker to win the French Open; Sinner gained a
measure of revenge by beating Alcaraz for the Wimbledon trophy; then Alcaraz
again came out on top at the U.S. Open.
"Every matchup is different. We saw it in Rome and Paris. Even if it's the same
surface, it can change," Sinner said.
Sinner also won the Australian Open --- beating Alexander Zverev in the final
--- so he and Alcaraz each won two majors this year.
In all, it will be the sixth time that Alcaraz and Sinner meet this year. They
also clashed in the Italian Open final (won by Alcaraz) and the Cincinnati Open
final (won by Alcaraz when Sinner retired due to illness).
Alcaraz leads Sinner 10-5 in their career head-to-heads.
"The ranking doesn't lie. They're the two best players," said Auger-Aliassime,
who lost to both Sinner and Alcaraz this week. "Different game styles but both
put extreme pressure on their opponent in different ways ... they keep showing
up and playing good, so credit to them."
Alcaraz 4-0 this week Alcaraz applied pressure to Auger-Aliassime from the start and, like Sinner, improved to 4-0 this week. Alcaraz led Auger-Aliassime 25-15 in winners and committed half as many unforced errors as his Canadian opponent, 10-20. The Spaniard called it his best performance of the tournament. "I'm really happy with the level today," Alcaraz said. "I played really solid, really aggressively." It's Alcaraz's third time at the Finals, although he withdrew from his first appearance in 2022 due to injury. Last year, he was eliminated in the group phase following losses to Casper Ruud and Zverev, beating only Andrey Rublev. Auger-Aliassime beat Ben Shelton and Zverev in the group stage after losing to Sinner, and will finish the year at a career-high No. 5 after a strong indoor season.
Sinner 13-0 vs. De Minaur Sinner improved to 13-0 against De Minaur in his career. Sinner saved three break points in his opening service game after falling behind 0-40 and then finally managed to break De Minaur for a 6-5 advantage before serving the set out. The second set was never really in question, as Sinner jumped out to a 4-0 lead. "I was happy with how I served and with how I reacted in the important moments," Sinner said. Sinner extended his winning streak on indoor hard courts to 31 matches --- also stretching back to that 2023 final against Djokovic. He hasn't dropped his serve this week. Sinner's first pro victory over De Minaur came in 2019 in the final of the Next Gen ATP Finals. Sinner has won 29 of the 31 sets they've played. "I know how to beat him. It's just not that easy to do," De Minaur said. "You've got to hit the ball very hard, very flat, very deep and very close to the lines. It is something that I try to do, but it's obviously not the easiest thing to do ... I need to serve well throughout the whole match. My serve dropped a little bit and could have been better." ___ AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
Alcaraz 4-0 this week Alcaraz applied pressure to Auger-Aliassime from the start and, like Sinner, improved to 4-0 this week. Alcaraz led Auger-Aliassime 25-15 in winners and committed half as many unforced errors as his Canadian opponent, 10-20. The Spaniard called it his best performance of the tournament. "I'm really happy with the level today," Alcaraz said. "I played really solid, really aggressively." It's Alcaraz's third time at the Finals, although he withdrew from his first appearance in 2022 due to injury. Last year, he was eliminated in the group phase following losses to Casper Ruud and Zverev, beating only Andrey Rublev. Auger-Aliassime beat Ben Shelton and Zverev in the group stage after losing to Sinner, and will finish the year at a career-high No. 5 after a strong indoor season.
Sinner 13-0 vs. De Minaur Sinner improved to 13-0 against De Minaur in his career. Sinner saved three break points in his opening service game after falling behind 0-40 and then finally managed to break De Minaur for a 6-5 advantage before serving the set out. The second set was never really in question, as Sinner jumped out to a 4-0 lead. "I was happy with how I served and with how I reacted in the important moments," Sinner said. Sinner extended his winning streak on indoor hard courts to 31 matches --- also stretching back to that 2023 final against Djokovic. He hasn't dropped his serve this week. Sinner's first pro victory over De Minaur came in 2019 in the final of the Next Gen ATP Finals. Sinner has won 29 of the 31 sets they've played. "I know how to beat him. It's just not that easy to do," De Minaur said. "You've got to hit the ball very hard, very flat, very deep and very close to the lines. It is something that I try to do, but it's obviously not the easiest thing to do ... I need to serve well throughout the whole match. My serve dropped a little bit and could have been better." ___ AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
