Carlos Alcaraz beat Lorenzo Musetti and Jannik Sinner to take the lead in Turin, Italy.
Carlos Alcaraz defeated Lorenzo Musetti 6-4, 6-1 at the ATP Finals on Thursday, clinching his year-end No. 1 spot in the world rankings and securing the top spot in Jimmy Connors Group. As a result, Alex de Minaur, who defeated Taylor Fritz, also advanced to the semifinals.
The Spaniard defeated two Italian players in one blow, eliminating Musetti from the season-ending championship and ending Jannik Sinner’s hopes of regaining the top spot in the world rankings, even though his third round-robin win was far from stellar.
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“This match was really important for me as I’m playing to be number one at the end of the year,” Alcaraz said.
“At first I was nervous and it wasn’t easy. I tried to handle that pressure as best I could, so I’m really happy with my level of play and being able to finish the year at number one.”
Alcaraz, who finished the season in first place in 2022, had the best season of his career, reaching the finals of three Grand Slams, winning the French Open and the US Open, losing the Wimbledon deciding match, and facing Sinner all three times.
The 22-year-old, who has won a total of eight titles this season, is on track for his first ATP Finals victory after Alcaraz broke from a 5-4 lead in the first set and beat Musetti’s brave performance to win the second set.
Earlier in the day, Alcaraz and Musetti’s arrival at the Inalpi Arena was shown on a giant screen, to loud cheers for the Italian and boos for the Spaniard. But when Alcaraz took to the court for the showdown, he was greeted with warm applause.
Alcaraz took a while to settle down and committed a total of 21 unforced errors, but Musetti more than held his own in the first set. He won both service games before being broken in a tense final game that lasted more than 11 minutes.
From then on, it was business as usual for Alcaraz, who broke Musetti in consecutive service games and took a 5-1 lead.
The crowd cheered loudly every time Musetti scored a point, but he had no answer after the Spaniard progressed through the match.
Alcaraz and Sinner are likely to fight one last time this year, with the Italian already having advanced to the other semifinal as the winner of the Bjorn Borg group before Friday’s final round-robin match against Ben Shelton.
“This tournament is really important to me,” Alcaraz added. He will face either Alexander Zverev or Felix Auger-Aliassime in the last four.
“I’m excited to qualify for the semifinals and hopefully get to the finals. I understand because some of the work is done, but I’m excited to keep going.”
De Minaur defeats Fritz
Australia’s de Minaur bounced back from losses in his opening two matches with a great performance to beat last year’s beaten finalist Fritz 7-6 (3), 6-3 in a match where the usually reliable American’s service game let him down.
De Minaur lived up to his nickname “Demon” with energy and personality, hustling a lethargic Fritz all over the court. After winning the first set tiebreak, he broke the match early in the second set and won.
Defeat sent Fritz home, but de Minaur was relying on Alcaraz’s win to advance to the last four, but even the Australian seemed confused after the win.
When informed of the permutation, De Minaur said: “Is it really true or not? I don’t know. I don’t trust you right now. We’ll have to see what happens.”
De Minaur set up a best-of-four matchup with Sinner despite only winning one round robin match with Musetti and Fritz.
