TURIN, Italy (AP) — Aiming to punctuate the best year of his career with another big title, top-ranked Alexander Zverev got his ATP Finals campaign off to a strong start with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over debutant
Rafael Jodar on Sunday.
Zverev claimed his first two Grand Slam titles
this year and ascended to the No. 1 ranking for the first time. He’s aiming for his third trophy at Finals after winning the season-ending event in 2018 and 2021.“It's been a very good year for me. A lot of things that I've wanted to achieve I have achieved this year," Zverev said. “But playing here you can never take it for granted.”
The 20-year-old Jodar is the first man to qualify for the Finals in the same season that he made his tour-level debut in.
The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Zverev dominated with his serve, cranking out 10 aces on the fast indoor surface, and consistently applied pressure on Jodar’s serve.
It was a convincing performance for Zverev after entering on a two-match losing streak that included a straight-set loss to Lorenzo Musetti in his first match as No. 1.
“To start the tournament with a 6-4, 6-4 win is always very, very nice,” Zverev said. “I still think I have a lot of things to improve. It was not a perfect match.”
The only time Zverev got in trouble was when he faced two break points while attempting to serve out the first set. He hit an ace on the first break point and a service winner on the second and then another ace before closing the set out.
“He served very good in those two points, so I didn’t have any chance,” Jodar said.
In the same group, U.S. Open finalist Ben Shelton beat Arthur Fils 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 for his first win at the Finals after going 0-3 during his debut last year.
Juan Carlos Ferrero was in Shelton’s box for the first time.
The American recently added Ferrero to his coaching staff, following on from Alcaraz’s split with his long-time coach last year. Ferrero sat alongside Bryan Shelton, the player’s father and now co-coach.
Fils is the first Frenchman to compete at the Finals since Gael Monfils a decade ago. The 22-year-old Fils didn’t start his season until February after an eight-month layoff due to a back injury and he then also missed the French Open.
The other group opens on Monday with Carlos Alcaraz against Frances Tiafoe and Daniil Medvedev against Flavio Cobolli.
Alcaraz is on a roll after winning back-to-back titles and feels mentally refreshed, having missed 4 ½ months in the middle of the year due to a right wrist injury.
The top two finishers in each round-robin group advance to the semifinals.
Before the opening match, a parade of former No. 1s came out onto the court. They included: Ilie Nastase, Mats Wilander, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, Thomas Muster, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Marat Safin, Gustavo “Guga” Kuerten, Lleyton Hewitt, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Jannik Sinner.
Sinner, the two-time defending champion at Finals, ended his season early due to a right knee injury.
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