Preview ATP Finals Day Two: Jannik Sinner begins title defense facing familiar foe Felix Auger-Aliassime

Day Two of the ATP Finals will take place this Monday, November 10, with the debut of World No. 1 and defending champion Jannik Sinner. He will headline the night session, facing Felix Auger-Aliassime in a possible revenge match for the Canadian, who has lost three consecutive times to Sinner in recent months.

Sinner will not be the only local player on court. Lorenzo Musetti, who entered as the first alternate following Novak Djokovic’s withdrawal, will face the 2024 finalist and World No. 5 Taylor Fritz. The Italian will look to rely on the home crowd to surprise the always consistent Fritz and start strong in the Jimmy Connors Group, which also includes Carlos Alcaraz and Alex De Minaur.

The first match of the day will feature local favorite Lorenzo Musetti, who will count on the support of the home crowd for his ATP Finals debut. Musetti is one of the two tournament debutants (along with Shelton) and qualified at the last minute after Djokovic's withdrawal. Musetti needed to win the Hellenic Championship title but lost the final to Djokovic in a duel where he could not capitalize on a one-set lead.

The Italian is perhaps the player who arrives with the most doubts from the final part of the year, especially after a surprising first-round loss at the Paris Masters against his compatriot Lorenzo Sonego. However, the week in Athens was surely revitalizing in terms of confidence, with wins against rivals like Stan Wawrinka and Sebastian Korda.

On the other side, Fritz has not been in great form in recent tournaments. After losing the final in Tokyo to Alcaraz at the end of September, Fritz has only managed three wins and three losses. The American reached the ATP Finals final in 2024 and is facing an important point defense, while feeling the pressure from Ben Shelton, who could surpass him as American No. 1 if Fritz doesn't start earning quick victories.

In the head-to-head (H2H), Musetti leads 3-2, with all three victories coming in 2024. However, only one match was played on hard courts: the Davis Cup Finals in 2022, where Fritz ultimately took the win.

The World No. 1 Jannik Sinner returns to the court to defend his 2024 title, which he earned after an undefeated campaign, beating Casper Ruud in the semifinals and Fritz in the final. The Italian did not drop a set—or even play a single tie-break—in his five matches against Top 7 players.

There are few doubts about the level Sinner can display in his next challenge, with a 53-6 record for the season and five titles, including the Paris Masters on indoor hardcourts, similar conditions to those in Turin this week. It was precisely in Paris that he was crowned champion, comfortably defeating Felix Auger-Aliassime in the final (6-4, 7-6). In the same tournament, he defeated his two other group rivals: Shelton (quarters) and Zverev (semis), both in straight sets and conceding a total of only seven games between the two matches.

The four-time major champion will meet Felix for the fourth time in the last three months. Sinner has beaten the Canadian in the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Open, the semifinals of the US Open, and the Paris final, holding a dominant 7-1 set record against him during that run. Auger-Aliassime is playing in only his second ATP Finals appearance, three years after his debut in the tournament.

Felix has had an epic run in recent weeks, winning the title in Basel, reaching the Paris final, and making the US Open semifinals, among other great results. The Canadian also had good runs to the quarterfinals in Cincinnati and Shanghai, which gave him a year-end boost to dream of qualifying for Turin.

In the H2H, Sinner leads 3-2, with the last three encounters going his way since the return to hardcourts. Nevertheless, Felix is just one victory away from turning the tables and re-leveling the rivalry with Sinner, who will be under pressure to debut with a victory if he wants to keep alive his hopes of achieving the Year-End No. 1 ranking.