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Preamble

The inherent challenges of round-robin tennis often result in during this phase of the ATP Finals fans frequently find themselves scratching our heads, hastily looking for a mathematical tool and striving to determine the brain-busting qualification scenarios. But today's game between Zverev and Felix Auger-Aliassime, thankfully, is easy. It’s a straight shootout: the victor earns a semi-final battle against Alcaraz at this year-end tournament; the loser is eliminated.

Zverev is the favourite for this: the elite athlete is the player with greater achievements, has previously won at this competition previously on two instances and is ahead in their direct encounters with six victories against three defeats, winning both their past encounters on an enclosed hard court.

But … this is the surface on which Felix has secured the majority of his titles, he’s riding a high after his impressive recovery against Ben Shelton on Wednesday and he defeated the German in the US Championships initial phase in late summer. Additionally, the court pace is quicker in Turin than at Flushing Meadows, which works even more in AA’s benefit.

If the German player is reserved, similar to his performance against Sinner, and the Canadian presses the European player with his stinging serves and confident shots, it might very well be the 25-year-old Canadian – the earlier standout who was earlier slated before Alcaraz and Sinner to take over from the Big Three – who obtains the dubious honour of facing the top-ranked player the next day.

Play begins: at approximately 8:30 PM in Turin, 7.30pm GMT.