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 taking 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.
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.
“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.”
Later in the same group, U.S. Open finalist Ben Shelton plays Arthur Fils.
The other group opens on Monday with Carlos Alcaraz against Frances Tiafoe and Daniil Medvedev against Flavio Cobolli.
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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