TURIN, Italy – Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner play against each other almost all year round for the biggest tennis titles.
Add to that an important trophy they will compete for on Sunday: the ATP Finals.
Top-ranked Alcaraz defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-2, 6-4, and No. 2 Sinner defeated Alex de Minaur 7-5, 6-2 in front of his Italian home crowd in the semifinals on Saturday, setting up another meeting between the two players who have distanced themselves from the rest of the field.
“I expect there will be at least three to four people in the crowd cheering for me,” Alcaraz said with a smile. “It’s going to be very difficult. I’m just very happy to see Jannik in a final again. Every time we face each other in a final we lift our level to the top.”
Alcaraz has already secured the year-end No. 1 ranking, but will contest his first final at the event in front of the year’s top eight players.
Sinner will play his third consecutive final in Turin and aim for his second consecutive trophy. The Italian has not dropped a set at the ATP Finals since being defeated by Novak Djokovic in the 2023 championship match – a run of 18 consecutive sets.
“These are games I’m looking forward to,” Sinner said. “Also for me to see where my level really is, but at the same time it’s great to have this match before the off-season… Of course I feel comfortable on an indoor hard court.”
Sinner and Alcaraz have met in the past three Grand Slam finals: Alcaraz defeated Sinner in a fifth-set tiebreak to win the French Open; Sinner got a measure of revenge by beating Alcaraz for the Wimbledon trophy; then Alcaraz again came out on top at the US Open.
“Every match is different. We’ve seen it in Rome and Paris. Even if it’s the same surface, it can change,” Sinner said.
Sinner also won the Australian Open – beating Alexander Zverev in the final – so he and Alcaraz each won two majors this year.
In total, it will be the sixth time that Alcaraz and Sinner meet each other this year. They also clashed in the final of the Italian Open (won by Alcaraz) and the final of the Cincinnati Open (won by Alcaraz when Sinner retired due to illness).
Alcaraz leads Sinner 10-5 in their head-to-head careers.
On Saturday, Alcaraz put pressure on Auger-Aliassime from the start and, like Sinner, improved to 4-0 this week.
Alcaraz led Auger-Aliassime 25-15 in the winners and made half as many unforced errors as his Canadian opponent, 20-10. The Spaniard called it his best performance of the tournament.
“I’m very happy with the level today,” said Alcaraz. “I played very solid, very aggressive.”
It is the third time Alcaraz has reached the final, although he withdrew from his first appearance in 2022 due to injury. Last year he was eliminated in the group stage after losses to Casper Ruud and Zverev, beating only Andrey Rublev.
Auger-Aliassime defeated Ben Shelton and Zverev in the group stage after losing to Sinner, and will end the year at career No. 5 after a strong indoor season.
Meanwhile, Sinner improved to 13-0 against De Minaur in his career.
Sinner saved three break points in his opening service game after falling behind 0-40 and eventually managed to break De Minaur for a 6-5 lead before serving out the set.
The second set was never really in question, as Sinner jumped out to a 4-0 lead.
“I was happy with how I served and how I responded in the important moments,” Sinner said.
Sinner extended his winning streak on indoor hard courts to 31 matches – also dating back to the 2023 final against Djokovic. This week he didn’t drop his serve.
Sinner’s first professional victory over De Minaur came in 2019 in the final of the Next Gen ATP Finals. Sinner won 29 of the 31 sets played.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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