Zverev Faces Felix Auger-Aliassime in ATP Finals Match
Preamble
The inherent challenges of round-robin tennis mean at this point of the season-ending championships viewers are commonly scratching our heads, scrambling about for a calculator and trying to work out the mind-boggling potential outcomes for advancement. But this evening's contest between Alexander Zverev and Felix Auger-Aliassime, fortunately, is straightforward. It’s a straight shootout: the victor secures a final four battle against Alcaraz at this year-end tournament; the loser heads out.
Zverev is the favourite for this: the elite athlete is the player with greater achievements, has previously won at this tournament previously on two instances and leads their head-to-head six matches to three, having won both their past encounters on an enclosed hard court.
But … this is the surface on which Felix has secured the majority of his titles, he is full of confidence after his remarkable turnaround against Ben Shelton on recently and he eliminated Zverev in the US Championships third round in August. Additionally, the playing speed is higher in the host city than at the US Open venue, which works even more in the Canadian's benefit.
Should Zverev be cautious, as he did against the Italian, and the Canadian presses the European player with his stinging serves and fearless play, it could well be the young Canadian – the one-time phenom who was previously positioned before the Spanish and Italian stars to succeed the Big Three – who earns the uncertain distinction of facing the world No 1 tomorrow.
The match starts: at about 8.30pm local time, 19:30 Greenwich Mean Time.
