Carlos Alcaraz sweeps past Alex de Minaur to open ATP Finals title bid in Turin

Carlos Alcaraz is in pole position already to end the year as Year End No.1 and it is thanks to brilliance like he showed against Alex de Minaur on Sunday. He opened up the tournament with a supreme win as he powered through 7-6, 6-2. He had previously had issues getting past his opener in Turin but no such problems today.

Alcaraz lost to Alexander Zverev in 2023 and Casper Ruud in 2024 in his two previous opening matches in Turin and although he had a pretty poor opening gambit in which he was taken the distance by De Minaur at the ATP Finals, it was very much his game from there.

He took a 4-1 40-0 lead in just 25 minutes as he looked to make quietly quick work of his opponent. Yet that advantage slowly ebbd away as De Minaur clawed back forcing Alcaraz into a tie-break. The top sed rallied from a mini break down on both occasions and reeled off four straight points from 3-5 down to clinch the set.

Alcaraz's 21 winners were coupled with 19 unforced errors in the opener as he maintained a bold sense of aggression to his game on a surface in indoor hard that he usually finds quite tough to settle on. He has in the past struggled so much that he has used Juan Carlos Ferrero's Academy to build indoor courts to mimic what they have in Turin.

Albeit it didn't work in Paris this past few weeks or last year in Turin, he will hope for better this time around. He raced through the finish in a 6-2 second set to claim the tie and sit at 5-0 up in his Head-to-Head against De Minaur.

He needs 250 more points to secure the honour of Year End No.1 and with it being Round Robin and each securing them 200 points, it is very much in sight. He needed a pretty poor tournament to surrender it as such and he doesn't seem to be having that as of now. Alcaraz faces either Lorenzo Musetti or Taylor Fritz on Tuesday with it depending on the winner of that tie as to who he next faces. But he leads the tour on 68 wins and eight trophies so whoever is coming next he will be confident.

"Obviously this tournament is one of the best tournaments thst we have on tour without a doubt. We're playing against the best 8 players in the world. That shows how difficult and important this tournament is," said Alcaraz.

"I've been struggling the last 3 years to come to the end of the year with energy, with motivation. This year is a little bit different. I'm really proud about the way I've been doing things to come here with motivation. I'm just really excited and looking forward to playing great tennis and giving myself the shot to try to win this tournament."

"As you said and as everybody knows, I'm fighting for not only the trophy but for the #1 as well so I'm just really happy with the way that I played today. I was focused on all my goals against someone like Alex, he's really difficult to play against. I'm happy to get my first win and excited for what's next."