Zverev Takes On Felix Auger-Aliassime in ATP World Tour Finals Showdown
Overview
The inherent challenges of group stage tennis mean by this stage of the ATP Finals viewers are commonly scratching our heads, searching around for a calculator and striving to determine the complex permutations of qualification. Yet today's game between Alexander Zverev and Auger-Aliassime, fortunately, is easy. It’s a straight shootout: the successful player sets up a semifinal battle against Carlos Alcaraz at this season-ending event; the defeated player goes home.
Zverev is the predicted winner for this: the world No 3 is the player with greater achievements, has claimed the title at this competition previously on two instances and holds the advantage in their personal record six matches to three, having won both their previous matches on an enclosed hard court.
Yet … this type of playing field on which Auger-Aliassime has claimed the majority of his titles, he’s riding a high after his remarkable turnaround against Shelton on midweek and he defeated the German in the US Championships third round in August. Plus, the court pace is quicker in the host city than at the US Open venue, which provides an additional advantage in the Canadian's favor.
If Zverev holds back, as he did against the Italian, and Felix aggressively challenges the German with his stinging serves and confident shots, there is a strong chance the North American athlete – the earlier standout who was once in line ahead of the younger champions to replace the Big Three – who obtains the dubious honour of playing against the global leader tomorrow.
Action commences: at about 8.30pm local time, 19:30 Greenwich Mean Time.
