TURIN, Italy — Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have been competing almost year-round for tennis’ biggest title.
There will be one more important trophy for them to contend for on Sunday. It’s the ATP Finals.
In Saturday’s semi-finals, top-ranked Alcaraz defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-2, 6-4 and world No. 2 Sinner defeated Alex de Minaur 7-5, 6-2 in front of his home Italian crowd, setting up a new match-up between two players who had distanced themselves from the rest of the field.
“I expect at least three or four people in the audience to be cheering for me,” Alcaraz said with a smile. “It’s going to be a really difficult match. I’m really happy to see Jannik in the final again. Every time we play in the final, we raise our level to the top.”
Alcaraz has already secured the No. 1 spot in the year-end rankings, but this will be his first final at this year’s top eight competitors.
Sinner will be competing in his third consecutive final in Turin and will be aiming for his second consecutive trophy. The Italian has not dropped a set at an ATP Finals (18 consecutive sets) since losing to Novak Djokovic in the 2023 championship match.
“These are the games I’m looking forward to,” Sinner said. “It’s just to see what my level really is, but at the same time it’s great to have this matchup before the off-season…Of course, the indoor hard courts are comfortable.”
Sinner and Alcaraz have met in the past three Grand Slam finals, with Alcaraz winning the French Open by defeating Sinner in a fifth-set tie-break. Sinner gained some revenge by defeating Alcaraz to win the Wimbledon trophy. Alcaraz then came out on top again at the US Open.
“Every matchup is different, we saw it in Rome and Paris, even on the same surface it can change,” Sinner said.
Sinner also won the Australian Open, defeating Alexander Zverev in the final, giving him and Alcaraz two major wins each this year.
This year marks the sixth time Alcaraz and Sinner have met. The two also clashed in the Italian Open final (Alcaraz won) and the Cincinnati Open final (Alcaraz won after Sinner retired due to illness).
Alcaraz leads Sinner 10-5 in career head-to-head matches.
On Saturday, Alcaraz put pressure on Auger-Aliassime from the start and, like Sinner, improved to 4-0 this week.
Alcaraz led Auger-Aliassime 25-15 in the winning match and committed half of his Canadian opponent’s 20-10 unforced errors. The Spaniard called this his best performance of the tournament.
“I’m really happy with today’s level,” Alcaraz said. “Played really solid, really aggressive.”
This is Alcaraz’s third appearance in the final, but he withdrew from his first appearance in 2022 due to injury. Last year, he was eliminated in the group stage, losing to Casper Ruud and Zverev, and losing only to Andrei Rublev.
After losing to Sinner, Auger-Aliassime defeated Ben Shelton and Zverev in the group stage, finishing the year with a career-high fifth place after a strong indoor season.
Sinner, on the other hand, improved to 13-0 against de Minaur in his career.
After falling behind 0-40 in his first service game, Sinner saved three break points and eventually broke de Minaur to build a 6-5 advantage before being set out.
The second set was completely uneventful as Sinner jumped out to a 4-0 lead.
“I was happy with the way I served and how I reacted in important moments,” Sinner said.
Sinner extended his winning streak on indoor hard courts to 31 matches, dating back to the 2023 final against Djokovic. He hasn’t dropped a serve this week.
Sinner’s first professional win against de Minaur came in the finals of the 2019 Next Generation ATP Finals. Sinner has won 29 of the 31 sets he has played so far.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
