Carlos Alcaraz secured the men’s year-end No. 1 ranking on Thursday by defeating Lorenzo Musetti and sweeping his group at the ATP Finals.
Alcaraz needed to win one more match to beat Yannick Sinner to the top spot and the Spaniard did just that as he won 6-4 6-1 to reach the semi-finals at the end of the season.
Alcaraz finished the year at the top of the list for the second time in his career.
The Spaniard became the youngest player to finish the year in first place when he achieved it as a 19-year-old in 2022.
Spain’s Alcaraz is in the semi-finals of the ATP Finals, having also secured the year-end world No. 1 ranking
Musetti was in the mix to advance to the semi-finals, but Alcaraz didn’t give him that chance as he dismissed the Italian in less than 90 minutes, sealing the result on his third match point for his third win in the Jimmy Connors group.
“Obviously, it’s always great to reach your goals,” Alcaraz said after the win.
“Finishing the year as world number 1 was not the goal at the beginning of the year, because I saw it very far with Yannick (Sinner) at the top.”
“But from the middle of the season I started playing such great tennis, winning a lot of tournaments and trophies in a row, so that was one of the main goals and I’m really happy to be able to achieve that here in this tournament after three wins.”
“I played with a lot of nerves today. It was really hard to deal with, to be honest. No. 1 was there in my mind.
“I wasn’t able to play as relaxed as I wanted to, but overall I think I did the best I could. Hopefully in the semifinals I’ll raise my level a little bit, but I’m excited to do it.”
Fritz was eliminated from the ATP Finals after losing in straight sets to De Minaur
Australia’s Alex de Minaur produced a stunning 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 victory over Taylor Fritz in his final ATP Finals match on Thursday to eliminate the American. The win also advanced him to the semifinals after Alcaraz defeated Musetti.
De Minaur lived up to his ‘Demon’ nickname, showing energy and character as he pushed the lethargic American all over the court, and after taking the first set tie-break, stormed to victory after an early break in the second set.
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Highlights of the ATP Finals match between Taylor Fritz and Alex de Minaur in Turin
Last year’s beaten finalist Fritz, who beat Musetti in the opener before losing a thrilling three-set against Alcaraz, struggled with his otherwise reliable serve and was put to the sword by the Australian, desperate for his first win in an ATP final.
De Minaur, who lost all three of his round-robin matches on his debut last year, was beaten by Alcaraz before suffering a devastating loss to Musetti who led 5-3 in the final set.
“I’ve been dealing with quite a bit of heartbreak recently, so it was good to finally win here in Turin,” De Minaur said.
The Australian bounced back from that defeat, which left him in a dark spot, while Fritz appeared heavy-footed as he lacked the pace needed to deal with De Minaur’s dynamism.
De Minaur broke to lead 3-1 in the first set, and while Fritz managed to force a tie-break, the Australian dominated, running away 4-1 with two mini-breaks. He started the second set in similar fashion where he broke to love and took a 3-0 lead.
This time there was no turning back from Fritz. He managed to save a break point at 2-5, but De Minaur served for the win.
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