Carlos Alcaraz secured the year-ending No 1 rating in males’s tennis on Thursday by beating Lorenzo Musetti to brush his group on the ATP Finals.
Alcaraz wanted to win yet one more match to beat Jannik Sinner to the No 1 spot and the Spaniard duly did in order he eased to a 6-4 6-1 victory to progress to the season-ending semi-finals.
It’s the second time in his profession that Alcaraz has ended the yr on the high of the rankings.
The Spaniard grew to become the youngest participant to complete a yr at No 1 when he achieved the feat as a 19-year-old in 2022.
Musetti had been within the combine to progress to the semi-finals however Alcaraz did not give him that probability as he swept apart the Italian in lower than 90 minutes, sealing the end result on his third match level for his third win within the Jimmy Connors group.
“Obviously it’s always great to achieve your goals,” Alcaraz mentioned following victory.
“To finish the yr as world No 1 wasn’t a purpose in the beginning of the yr as a result of I noticed it actually far-off with Jannik [Sinner] on the high.
“But from the middle of the season I started to play such great tennis, winning a lot of tournaments and trophies in a row, so since that it was one of the main goals and I’m really happy I was able to achieve that here in this tournament after three wins.
“Immediately I performed with quite a lot of nerves. It was actually tough to deal with it to be sincere. The No 1 was there in my thoughts.
“I couldn’t play relaxed, as I wanted, but overall I think I handled it best I could. Hopefully in the semi-final I raise my level a little bit, but I’m excited to do it.”
Fritz eradicated from ATP Finals after straight-sets defeat to De Minaur
Australian Alex de Minaur pulled off a surprising 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 win over Taylor Fritz of their final ATP Finals round-robin match on Thursday to remove the American. The victory additionally noticed him progress to the semi-finals after Alcaraz beat Musetti.
De Minaur lived as much as his ‘Demon’ nickname, exhibiting vitality and character as he hustled the lethargic-looking American everywhere in the court docket, and after taking the first-set tiebreak, stormed to victory following an early break within the second set.
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Highlights from the ATP Finals match between Taylor Fritz and Alex de Minaur in Turin
Final yr’s shedding finalist Fritz, who beat Musetti in his opener earlier than shedding an exciting three-setter in opposition to Alcaraz, struggled together with his usually dependable serve, and was put to the sword by the Australian, determined for his first ATP Finals win.
De Minaur, who misplaced all three round-robin matches on his debut final yr, was crushed by Alcaraz after which suffered a devastating defeat to Musetti having held a 5-3 lead within the closing set.
“I have dealt with a fair bit of heartbreak recently, so it was good to finally get a win here in Turin,” De Minaur mentioned.
The Australian bounced again from that loss, which had left him in a darkish place, whereas Fritz appeared heavy-footed as he lacked the tempo required to cope with De Minaur’s dynamism.
De Minaur broke to guide 3-1 within the first set, and whereas Fritz rallied to pressure a tiebreak, the Australian dominated it, racing right into a 4-1 lead with two mini-breaks. He started the second set in an analogous vein the place he broke to like and went 3-0 up.
This time there was no comeback from Fritz. He managed to avoid wasting a break level at 2-5 down however De Minaur served out for the win.
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