Alcaraz to end year as world number one after seeing off Musetti at ATP Finals / Photo: Marco BERTORELLO - AFP
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Alcaraz to end year as world number one after seeing off Musetti at ATP Finals
Carlos Alcaraz will end the year as world number one after beating Lorenzo Musetti at the ATP Finals 6-4, 6-1 on Thursday.
A double-Grand Slam winner this season, Alcaraz will be ahead of rival Jannik Sinner in the updated men's rankings on Monday thanks to his success over Musetti which also sealed first place for the Spaniard in the Jimmy Connors Group at the season-ending tournament.
Alcaraz, who has won 70 matches so far this season, could lose his semi-final on Saturday and still finish 2025 top of the pile, even if Sinner retains his Finals title on home turf.
But the Spaniard looks in no mood to do that as he seeks his first Finals triumph, and he appears to be on course for yet another final showdown against Sinner, who qualified in first place from the Bjorn Borg Group on Wednesday.
Alcaraz has won four of his five meetings with Sinner this season, all of which have been in finals of top-level tournaments -- with two deciding Grand Slams.
The 22-year-old won one of the best matches in tennis history against Sinner to retain his French Open title in June before losing the Wimbledon final to the Italian.
And he confidently dealt with Sinner's countryman Musetti who has been eliminated and now needs to decide whether to take part in the Davis Cup Final 8, which is being held in Bologna next week.
A passionate crowd cheered on Musetti but it was to no avail for the world number nine who only qualified for the Finals due to Novak Djokovic pulling out at the last minute.
Heading into the semis with Alcaraz is Alex de Minaur who did his part to qualify with a straight-sets win against Taylor Fritz, 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 earlier on Thursday.
Australia's De Minaur had to win in two sets in order to have any chance of making it out of the group, and he will now face Sinner in the semis.
Hard court specialist De Minaur won his 43rd match of the season on the surface, the most on the men's tour, and was too much for Fritz once he prevailed in the first set tie-break.
Defeat for Fritz in one hour and 35 minutes ended the American's participation in this year's edition of the prestigious end-of-season tournament.
R.Verbruggen--JdB
