Zverev Battles Felix Auger-Aliassime in ATP World Tour Finals Showdown
Preamble
The inherent challenges of round-robin tennis typically lead to at this point of the ATP World Tour Finals viewers are commonly scratching our heads, searching around for a mathematical tool and trying to work out the brain-busting qualification scenarios. However this evening's contest between Alexander Zverev and Auger-Aliassime, mercifully, is simple. This is a winner-takes-all affair: the successful player secures a semifinal contest against Alcaraz at this year-end tournament; the loser goes home.
Zverev is the favourite for this: the world No 3 is the player with greater achievements, has claimed the title at this event on two prior occasions and is ahead in their direct encounters 6-3, winning both their previous matches on an indoor hard court.
But … this is the surface on which the Canadian has won most of his championships, he’s riding a high after his compelling comeback against Ben Shelton on recently and he eliminated the German in the US Open third round in August. Furthermore, conditions are faster in Turin than at Flushing Meadows, which is even more beneficial in the Canadian's favor.
If Zverev holds back, similar to his performance against the Italian, and Felix aggressively challenges the European player with his stinging serves and confident shots, there is a strong chance the North American athlete – the former prodigy who was earlier slated ahead of the younger champions to replace the Big Three – who obtains the dubious honour of facing the world No 1 tomorrow.
Play begins: at around 20:30 in the host city, 19:30 Greenwich Mean Time.
