Carlos Alcaraz secured his spot as world number one for the end of the year as he swept past Lorenzo Musetti 6-4 6-1 to maintain a perfect start to the ATP Finals in Turin.
The Spaniard made sure he would retain his ranking ahead of Jannik Sinner after another impressive display to end Musetti's own hopes of further progress in front of his home crowd at the Inalpi Arena.
"The match was really important for me, playing for year-end number one," said Alcaraz, who built momentum through the second set after an early break and is chasing his first ATP Finals title.
"It wasn’t easy at the beginning with the nerves. I tried to handle that pressure the best I could, so I am just really happy with the level I played and to be able to end the year as the number one."
Alcaraz added in quotes on the ATP Tour website: "This tournament is really important for me.
"I am excited about qualifying for the semi-finals and hopefully getting to the final. We will see – part of the job is done, but I’m excited to keep going."
Alex de Minaur had earlier beaten last year’s runner-up Taylor Fritz 7-6 (3) 6-3, which saw him also make it through from the round-robin phase despite having lost his opening two matches in the Jimmy Connors group.
The Australian, who had slipped to a three-set defeat against Musetti on Tuesday night, was determined to finish the campaign on a positive, whatever the final outcome on qualification.
"I have dealt with a fair bit of heartbreak recently, so it was good to finally get a win here in Turin," said De Minaur in quotes on the ATP Tour website. "It (defeat against Musetti) was a tough pill to swallow, but I didn’t overthink today.
"I committed to what I needed to do. There were some tough moments out there, but I continued to back myself.
"Whether it worked or didn’t, I was going to leave everything out there today and I ended up with a really good match from the start to the end."
