TURIN, Italy — Jannik Sinner got his title defense off to a flying start with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Felix Auger-Aliassime at the ATP Finals on Monday in front of his home fans.
Aiming for number one in the year-end rankings. Sinner needs to win the season-ending event for the top eight players and hopes Carlos Alcaraz doesn’t make it to the finals.
Auger-Aliassime, ranked No. 8, appeared to be slowed down by a left calf problem near the end of the first set. During the second set, he received two treatments from the trainer.
“It was very tough until 6-5, but then he had physical problems,” Sinner said of breaking the Canadian’s serve to end the first set.
Sinner won the title in Turin last year without dropping a set and has not lost in this tournament since losing to Novak Djokovic in the 2023 final.
A placard reading “Italian Pride” hung on Sinner high above the crowd, and during his on-court postgame interview, he was serenaded with soccer-like chants of “Ole, ole, ole. Thinner, thinner.”
“This is a special tournament and place for me,” he said.
Sinner has won all four meetings with Auger-Aliassime this year, including the US Open semifinals and the recent Paris Masters final.
Sinner and Alexander Zverev lead Bjorn Borg’s group with one win each after Zverev defeated Ben Shelton on Sunday.
The top two from each group advance to the semifinals.
Sinner won 89% of his points on his first serve, winning 32 of his 36 points.
“My group is a very difficult group, with some guys who serve really, really strong,” Sinner said. “It’s difficult to recover as soon as you concede a break, so you have to stay focused for most of the match.”
Unlike Musetti, who is playing for the first time, Fritz has a proven track record in this tournament, having reached the final last year and the semi-finals in his debut in 2022. He also spent the past week preparing on an indoor court.
“It’s a very important game to win. If we want to get out of the group, I would say so,” Fritz said. “He plays a completely different game, slicing and everything, so it took me a while to get used to it.
“I was able to avoid a break early in the game when he had a chance. After that, I felt like I was more enthusiastic about the game. … I thought I played really well.”
Musetti defeated Italian Djokovic in the Athens final on Saturday, coming on in the second half in place of Djokovic, who withdrew with a shoulder injury. Musetti had just arrived in Turin on Sunday but was unable to ride to the cheers of his hometown crowd.
“I wasn’t at 100%, especially physically,” Musetti said. “Mentally, I’m really happy to be here. I’m very proud of myself, my team and what we accomplished. I tried to fight with what I had today.”
Fritz and Alcaraz lead the Jimmy Connors group with one win each, while Alex de Minaur and Musetti follow with one loss each.
On Tuesday, Fritz will play Alcaraz and Musetti will play De Minaur.