Top seed Carlos Alcaraz launched his quest for a first ATP Finals title with a 7-6(5), 6-2 victory over Australia’s Alex de Minaur in their round-robin clash at the season-ending tournament in Turin on Sunday.

Despite De Minaur’s resilient performance, Alcaraz claimed his opening ATP Finals win for the first time. The Australian rallied from 4-1 down in the first set to force a tiebreak, but the Spaniard ultimately edged it.

In the second set, both players exchanged early breaks, but Alcaraz pulled away with two more breaks to lead 4-1, and De Minaur was unable to mount a comeback, even in a spirited showing in the opening match of the Jimmy Connors Group.

Both players were aiming to improve on last year’s performances: Alcaraz lost two of his three round-robin matches in straight sets, while De Minaur failed to win any of his three group matches. Notably, Alcaraz had lost his opening match in his previous two ATP Finals appearances.
“It was a really difficult match,” said Alcaraz. “On this surface, Alex makes the most of the speed of the ball, he’s super fast and really difficult on return. I’m just really happy to get through this tough challenge.”

Alcaraz is also in contention to finish the year as world number one. In Turin, he needs to reach the final with at least one round-robin win—or sweep his group matches—to secure the year-end top ranking for the second time. Italian Jannik Sinner would need to defend his title to have any chance of overtaking him.

Later on Sunday, German two-time champion Alexander Zverev faces American Ben Shelton, who is making his ATP Finals debut, in the Bjorn Borg Group.

The ATP Finals feature the world’s top eight singles players and doubles teams, boasting a record prize pool of $15.5 million and offering 1,500 ranking points. The tournament concludes with the final at the Inalpi Arena in Turin on November 16.