Alcaraz starts Turin with defeat of de Minaur

Carlos Alcaraz established opening day superiority on Sunday as the Spaniard controlled Alex de Minaur 7-6 (5), 6-2 to win their group match at the ATP Finals.

The Turin success in just under an hour and three-quarters puts the Spaniard 1,250 points ahead of rival Jannik Sinner in the race to the year-end world no. 1 ranking.

Italy’s defending champion Sinner begins his campaign on Monday evening, with the pair seeded to meet in the finals in a week in northern Italy.

Alcaraz, winner of eight titles this season, has never triumphed at the eight-man season wrapup which Sinner thrilled home fans here a year ago with his trophy performance.

The 22-year-old Spaniard leads 4-1 and 5-1 against de Minaur, who has yet to win a match after playing four at the elite year-ender.

Alcaraz needed the opening set to get acclimatised before turning on the jets to run away with the second set and the win; he finished with 32 winners against a dozen for his Aussie opponent.

“I’ve been struggling the last three years to come to the end of the season

with energy and motivation,” the winner said.

“This year is a bit different, I’m excited to be playing great tennis.

“It was a really difficult match against Alex, he is really good on this (fast) surface, making the most of the speed of the ball court.

Alcaraz added: “I’m happy to get through this challenge.”

According to ATP calculations, the Spaniard needs to win all three of his round-robin matches or reach the final this week to be guaranteed the year-end top status.

The last Australian to win a singles match at a year-end tournament was current Davis Cup coach Lleyton Hewitt, 2004 finalist.

Main photo:-Carlos Alcaraz celebrates winning opening match in ATP Finals Turin -by ATPTour.com