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Sinner, Fritz US Open final rematch headlines Turin Day 3

Action from the 2024 Nitto ATP Finals continues to ramp up on Tuesday, with players from Ilie Nastase Group returning for the second set of round-robin matches.

Day 1 winners Jannik Sinner and Taylor Fritz will reprise their recent US Open final, with the winner taking pole position in the Ilie Nastase Group. Daniil Medvedev and Alex de Minaur, who suffered opening-day defeats are looking for a critical win to work their way back into semi-final contention.

In the doubles, Mike Bryan Group will also play host to some intriguing meetings. Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson will continue their debut run in Turin against Wimbledon champions Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten before second seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos face Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic.

[1] Jannik Sinner (ITA) vs [5] Taylor Fritz (USA)
Fritz will be hoping that lightning does not strike twice when he steps on court against home favourite Sinner on Tuesday evening at the Inalpi Arena. 

Sinner, the No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings, won the pair’s most recent encounter in the championship match at Flushing Meadows in September and will head into their upcoming clash oozing with confidence, having won his past seven matches. 

Making his first appearance in Italy in 12 months, Sinner shook off a sluggish start to surge past De Minaur in his opener. Fritz also showed some of his most impressive tennis with a steely win over Medvedev, in which his serve was the standout weapon.  

Buoyed by the home crowd, and with the 2-1 lead in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series, the Italian will have the slight edge. Sinner will be eager to bolster his chances of securing a maiden trophy at the season finale with a victory over Fritz, but has acknowledged the task that lies ahead.

“I have to be at my top if I want to win or get close,” Sinner said of his clash with Fritz. “It’s going to be tough, this I know. I know that I will have to raise my level, so hopefully I can do that. I feel like he has improved a lot in the past one and a half, two years. He is serving much better, hitting the ball very, very hard. He’s a great competitor.”

Fritz is making his second appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals, having made the semi-finals in 2022. Although he is no stranger in Turin, the World No. 5 enters this tournament with a different mindset.

”My first time [in Turin], I was an alternate, no one really expected much of me,” said Fritz. “I was playing with house money, no pressure. Now, I’m putting more expectation on myself to do better, I’m just a better player.”

<img alt=”Daniil Medvedev and Alex de Minaur” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/11/11/19/47/medvedev-de-minaur-nitto-preview.jpg” />

[4] Daniil Medvedev vs [7] Alex de Minaur (AUS)
Debutant De Minaur was thrown in at the deep end in his Turin opener against Sinner, but showed glimpses of the tennis that has earned him the right to be here. The 25-year-old now faces a different test in 2020 champion Medvedev, who is making his sixth consecutive appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals.

While Medvedev’s vast experience in competing at this tournament outweighs De Minaur’s by quite some way, the Australian will take confidence from winning three of their past five Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings, despite trailing 6-3 overall. Their first clash came in the Sydney final in 2018, where Medvedev spoiled the Australian party to clinch his maiden ATP Tour trophy. 

“We’ve played a lot of matches and had a lot of battles,” De Minaur said of his rivalry with Medvedev. “I’ve always looked forward to those matches because I think we are both tacticians out there when we play each other.”

In a clash that is destined to produce gruelling baseline exchanges from start to finish, Medvedev will aim to outfox De Minaur. After their respective losses on Sunday, both men are bidding for a vital win to increase their chances of progressing out of the Ilie Nastase group. 

Doubles action
Australians Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson will bid to back up the impressive start they made in their debut appearance in Turin as they face Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten in a rematch of this year’s Wimbledon final. Both teams secured opening wins in Mike Bryan Group on Sunday, so it is destined to be another high-quality battle, with their Lexus ATP Head2Head series tied at 1-1.

Second seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos will open the evening session against Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic as both teams seek their first win at this year’s event. It is a replay of the 2020 semi-finals, which Koolhof/Mektic won in straight-sets en route to lifting the trophy.

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Nitto launches auction to support Torino Green Project

Imagine watching the world’s best tennis players at the Nitto ATP Finals or even stepping onto the court with them for the pre-match coin toss. Now, thanks to the Nitto 2024 auction, this dream can become a reality, while supporting the impactful Torino Green Project, launched by Nitto in November 2023.

Ending on 17 November, the auction offers exclusive items like match tickets, the rare chance to perform the ceremonial coin toss at the season finale and players’ signed goods. The auction invites fans to bid on unforgettable experiences, all while contributing to a meaningful cause.

All proceeds from the auction will go toward the City of Turin, in support of the Nitto ATP Finals Torino Green Project, a sustainability initiative created in partnership with the ATP Tour. The project focuses on minimising the environmental impact of large events, promoting sustainable practices throughout Turin.

Key initiatives include waste reduction and support for green projects like tree regeneration at Cavalieri di Vittorio Veneto Park a park next to the tournament venue and creating a green bus stop within the city of Turin for the aim of Co2 reduction. The auction funds will help ensure a lasting, positive impact on Turin’s environment and serve as a model for sustainable development.

Anna Orfanidou was a lucky fan who through the auction claimed the unforgettable experience of performing the coin toss ahead of Sunday evening’s match between Jannik Sinner and Alex de Minaur.

“I was so excited,” said Orfanidou. “I was waiting for this since last year. I am from Greece and I am a tennis fan. I always watch the Top 10 players. I love that Nitto offers this. It is interesting and engages the audience. It has been a very nice experience.”

Inside the Fan Village, the Torino Green Project booth highlights the auction and draws a steady crowd. Screens display the auction site and showcase the items up for bid, while staff answer questions, helping fans understand the dual opportunity to win unique experiences and support a meaningful cause. The auction is accessible worldwide, making it easy for fans everywhere to join in and contribute.

This connection between the excitement of world-class tennis and the drive for environmental sustainability demonstrates the Nitto ATP Finals’ commitment to leaving a positive legacy in Turin. Through this auction, fans are invited to become part of that legacy, using their passion for tennis to fuel positive change.

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Ruud stuns out-of-sorts Alcaraz at ATP Finals

Casper Ruud stuns an out-of-sorts Carlos Alcaraz to begin his ATP Finals campaign with a straight-set victory in Turin.

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Ruud rocks Turin, upsets Alcaraz at Nitto ATP Finals

When it comes to the Nitto ATP Finals, Casper Ruud rarely brings anything below his best.

The Norwegian on Monday upset Carlos Alcaraz 6-1, 7-5 to register a huge early shock at the prestigious season finale in Turin. Ruud, who reached the championship match on his previous Nitto ATP Finals appearance in 2022, expertly capitalised on a lacklustre performance from the third-seeded Alcaraz to seal an 86-minute victory inside Inalpi Arena.

Although Alcaraz appeared below his physical best during Monday’s encounter, Ruud looked transformed from the player who entered the match having registered just two wins since the US Open. The 25-year-old struck the ball cleanly off both wings and showed few signs of nerves in serving out for his first Lexus ATP Head2Head win in five attempts against Alcaraz.

Ruud will next seek to earn a second win on Wednesday, when he will face either Alexander Zverev or Andrey Rublev in John Newcombe Group. Monday’s defeat is an early blow to Alcaraz’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals in Turin for the second consecutive year, but the Spaniard will hope to raise his game for his next match as he chases his fifth tour-level title of the season.

More to follow…

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Inside Zverev & Alcaraz's World No. 2 battle

Jannik Sinner wrapped ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF honours in October, but the battle for year-end No. 2 is still up for grabs.

Alexander Zverev enters the Nitto ATP Finals in pole position to finish just behind Sinner. The German holds a 505-point lead over No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz, but the Spaniard still has an opportunity to swap places with the two-time season finale champion.

A player could earn 1,500 points with an undefeated run to the title at the Inalpi Arena, giving Alcaraz a chance to overcome that deficit. Each round-robin win is worth 200 PIF ATP Rankings points, semi-final victories 400 points and a triumph in the final 500 points.

PIF ATP Live Rankings (entering 11 November)

Zverev and Alcaraz are both in the John Newcombe Group, so they are guaranteed to meet at least once in Turin. That could prove pivotal in the battle for World No. 2. Alcaraz is trying to finish in the top two for the third consecutive year, while Zverev is attempting to do so for the first time.

Daniil Medvedev is currently live World No. 4, 330 points ahead of No. 5 Taylor Fritz, whose win against the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals champion helped narrow the gap.

Fritz is trying to become the first American to finish in the year-end top four since James Blake was No. 4 in 2006.

Novak Djokovic could fall as low as World No. 9 by the end of Tuesday. The Serbian is live World No. 6 with 3,910 points.

No. 7 Casper Ruud (3,855), No. 8 Andrey Rublev (3,760) and No. 9 Alex de Minaur (3,745) are all within 200 points of them, so they each need just one round-robin win to pass Djokovic.

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Sinner on De Minaur win: 'I'm glad I managed this level'

After one month without competitive tennis, perhaps Jannik Sinner surprised himself with the calibre of tennis he produced on Sunday night at the Nitto ATP Finals.

The No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings admitted to feeling some rust in the early stages of his opening match against debutant Alex de Minaur, but it wasn’t long before he was near his blistering best. After trailing an early break, Sinner found his rhythm and wrapped up victory in 85 minutes to kick-start his quest for a maiden trophy at the prestigious season finale. 

“I’m glad that I managed to play this kind of level today,” said Sinner, whose last tour-level match was his Shanghai Masters triumph in October. “It’s a great start for my side for this event, for this tournament, considering I haven’t played an official match in four weeks.

“Every match, it’s very difficult to play against him. He’s a great fighter. You have to earn every point you play. Every time we play, he changes a couple of things, so I have to be very aware. It’s very difficult. We don’t have to see only the result, but also how the match goes.”

Sinner, who notched his Tour-leading 66th win of 2024 (alongside Alexander Zverev), is bidding to become just the third player to win the Australian Open, US Open and Nitto ATP Finals in one season (Federer, Djokovic). With his win over De Minaur, the 23-year-old is level with Taylor Fritz – his next opponent – at the top of the Ilie Nastase Group.

“He [Fritz] has improved a lot in the past one and a half, two years,” added Sinner, who leads Fritz 2-1 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series. “He’s serving much better [and] hitting the ball very, very hard. He’s a great competitor.

“I have to be at my top if I want to win or if I want to get close. I practised with him at the beginning of the week. It was a very tough practice set. It’s going to be tough, this I know. I know that I have to raise my level. Hopefully I can do that, then we see how it goes.”

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Sinner sweeps past De Minaur in Turin opener

Jannik Sinner quickly shook off some early rust to power to an impressive opening victory on Sunday night at the Nitto ATP Finals.

The home favourite prevailed 6-3, 6-4 against Alex de Minaur to kick-start his 2024 campaign at the prestigious season finale. Competing in his first match since he lifted the Rolex Shanghai Masters trophy on 13 October, Sinner responded superbly to dropping serve in the third game of the match against De Minaur. He wrapped victory in 85 minutes at Inalpi Arena to move to 1-0 in Ilie Nastase Group.

“Considering [how long since I last played], I’m very happy,” said Sinner. “I started off with some unforced errors. He was playing great in the beginning of the match, so I just tried to stay there mentally, knowing that hopefully at some point my tennis would arrive. It arrived quite early, and I started to return very well.

“My serve, for sure I have to improve if I want to [win] the next match. Against Taylor [Fritz] for example, today he played really well. Let’s see, but today I’m very pleased about the win and hopefully this can give me confidence for the next one.”

🎶🇮🇹 Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole… SINNER! SINNER! 🎶🇮🇹@janniksin begins his quest for the #NittoATPFinals title with a comprehensive victory over de Minaur on home soil! pic.twitter.com/v4G696CjHe

— ATP Tour (@atptour) November 10, 2024

A finalist at the Nitto ATP Finals a year ago, Sinner this year returned to Turin as the first Italian No. 1 in PIF ATP Rankings history. Despite his early lapse on serve against De Minaur, the 23-year-old showed few signs of nerves in his first tour-level match on home soil for 12 months. He pulled De Minaur around the court with heavy groundstrokes off both wings and was consistently aggressive on return.

After winning four straight games from 1-2 en route to the opening set, Sinner notched the decisive break of the second set in the fifth game. He completed victory to the delight of his home crowd, which included some of his fellow Italian sports stars: His fellow ATP stars Flavio Cobolli and Lorenzo Sonego, WTA World No. 4 Jasmine Paolini, and former Italy and Juventus football star Giorgio Chiellini were among those cheering Sinner on.

“It has to be the crowd,” said Sinner, when asked for his favourite thing about playing at home. “It has to be the energy. I love to play at home. It’s a huge honour, and I was just looking forward to it. Today was a great night. I didn’t play Rome [this year], so it was the first match [in 2024] in Italy. The welcome was very warm, very amazing. I can’t wait for the next one.”

Sinner demonstrated the sort of baseline firepower that has been the foundation of his rise to World No. 1 against De Minaur. He outhit the Australian by 19 winners to seven, while he also won 81 per cent (26/32) of points behind his first serve, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

With Sunday’s win, Sinner improved to 8-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Nitto ATP Finals debutant De Minaur. He has now won seven consecutive tour-level matches and has registered a joint Tour-leading 66 wins this year (alongside Alexander Zverev). The Italian will seek to extend his winning streak to eight matches on Tuesday when he takes on Daniil Medvedev or Taylor Fritz in his second group-stage match.

It was never going to be an easy task for De Minaur to overcome the World No. 1 in his maiden appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals, but the 25-year-old can still make it out of the Ilie Nastase Group with strong performances against Medvedev and Fritz.

“I knew I had my work cut out,” said De Minaur. “I thought I started well, then I kind of slipped away. I just couldn’t sustain the level that I needed today to beat Jannik.

“His ball speed, in my eyes, is so much higher than basically the rest of the people. From both sides he’s solid. He keeps on improving. He’s improved his serve so much throughout the years.

“I always rate my chances [of progressing out of the group]. I think the way I see it is that Jannik was the only player in the group who I hadn’t had a win against. The rest of the players I’ve had some success against. Now I’m not playing the No. 1 in the world anymore, I’ll be looking forward to that.”

[NEWSLETTER FORM]

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View the best photos from Day 1 at the Nitto ATP Finals

View the best photos from Day 1 at the Nitto ATP Finals

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Sinner, Zverev, Alcaraz & Co. feature in Vogue

For the elite eight who have earned the right to compete at this year’s Nitto ATP Finals, their fortnight in Turin extends further than the court inside the Inalpi Arena.

Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Taylor Fritz, Casper Ruud, Andrey Rublev and Alex de Minaur all swapped their racquets for a fine dress shirt on Thursday for a photo shoot with Vogue.

The players reflected on their years, both on and off the court, before gathering for group photos in their finest attire. You can read more about the day on the Vogue website. 

<img alt=”Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz ” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/11/10/17/56/alcaraz-sinner-vogue-atp-finals-2024.jpg?w=100%25″ />^{_{Photo Credit: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour}}

“Seeing my parents after Australia,” Sinner responded when asked of his best moment off the court. “Just seeing them happy and spending time with them. I don’t have so much time with my parents, so it was a very nice moment.”

The fourth edition of the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin got underway on Sunday, with World No. 1 Sinner and No. 3 Alcaraz among those seeking their maiden crown at the prestigious season finale.

<img alt=”Daniil Medvedev, Taylor Fritz, Andrey Rublev, Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Casper Ruud, Alexander Zverev, Alex de Minaur” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/11/10/18/01/vogue-atp-finals-2024-group.jpg?w=100%25″ />^{_{Photo Credit: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour}}

<img alt=”Taylor Fritz” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/11/10/18/03/fritz-vogue-atp-finals-2024.jpg” />^{_{Photo Credit: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour}}

<img alt=”Alex de Minaur” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/11/10/18/05/de-minaur-vogue-atp-finals-2024.jpg” />^{_{Photo Credit: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour}}

^{_{<img alt=”Daniil Medvedev” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/11/10/20/24/medvedev-vogue-nitto-atp-finals.jpg” />Photo Credit: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour<img alt=”Andrey Rublev, Taylor Fritz, Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Ruud ” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/11/10/20/31/rublev-vogue-atp-finals.jpg” />}}

^{_{Photo Credit: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour}}

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Heliovaara/Patten mark Nitto ATP Finals debut with commanding win

Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten could not have asked for a better way to kick-start their debut run at the Nitto ATP Finals.

The seventh seeds produced a steely performance Sunday to defeat 2023 finalists Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos 7-6(2), 6-4 and open their account in Turin. Heliovaara and Patten carried their momentum from a dominant first-set tie-break to move ahead early in the second. They commanded on serve throughout the encounter, during which they saved each of the two break points they faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

“[We’re] very, very pleased, we really showed we are here and one of the top eight teams,” said Heliovaara. “We played a great match. We didn’t lose our serve once and we stayed offensive when it mattered. We followed our game plan so well and I think we deserved the win.”

The deadly duo ⚡️⚡️

First W on the board for reigning Wimbledon champs, Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten!#NittoATPFinals pic.twitter.com/2wVYqFBOUp

— ATP Tour (@atptour) November 10, 2024

Heliovaara and Patten’s exquisite touch was on full display in the tie-break, and the pair did not look back. In the third game of the second set, they each found a pinpoint return to clinch the opening break of the match, one that proved to be decisive. 

“It’s quite a quick court, so it’s difficult to break,” Patten added. “You don’t want to give your opponents any opportunities to do that. We’re both extremely pleased. We fended off some break points at times and served it out well in the end.”

The British-Finnish duo is bidding to become the first team to capture the Wimbledon and Nitto ATP Finals trophy in the same season since Mike Bryan and Jack Sock in 2018.

After defeating Granollers and Zeballos, the No. 2 team in the PIF ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, Heliovaara and Patten lie second in the Mike Bryan Group. Earlier, Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson edged 2020 Nitto ATP Finals champions Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic 7-6(1), 6-3 to move top.

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