Turin Showdown: Alcaraz Seeks No.1 Finish as Musetti Fights to Avoid 0-2 Start

In Turin: Group Stage Showdowns

The year-end tennis finals continue on Tuesday with the second singles matches in the Jimmy Connors Group, as top seed Carlos Alcaraz and Taylor Fritz push to move to 2-0 this week in Turin. Alex de Minaur and local favorite Lorenzo Musetti will try to avoid starting 0-2 in the evening sessions.

Fritz and Musetti find themselves in an unusual setup, playing group-stage matches on consecutive days as the schedule compresses after Musetti reached the Athens final on Saturday.

Carlos Alcaraz (No.1) vs Taylor Fritz (No.6) sets up a high-stakes clash as both eyes on the year-end No.1.

Alcaraz aims to seal No.1 for the first time in his three appearances at the finals, having opened with a win over De Minaur (7-6, 6-2) on Sunday. Two more wins in Turin would likely clinch the year-end top ranking ahead of Jannik Sinner.

His lead was briefly lost after an early Paris exit, but he returned to winning ways in Turin with a confident start at the Enalbi Arena.

Fritz arrived with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Musetti on Monday and appears set in his bid for the US No.1 race, where he trails but still has the benefit of last year’s Turin final and a 2022 semifinal run. He’s also unbeaten in group play at the year-end finals so far.

Fritz enjoyed the indoor slow pace in Athens but Turin's faster court will test him, with power serves and early offense likely to matter in the typically shorter exchanges inside the Enalbi Arena.

Duel Previews: De Minaur vs Musetti and More

Alex de Minaur (No.7) vs Lorenzo Musetti (No.9) is not a do-or-die life-or-death match, but it is high risk, coming off two straight group-stage losses. Both players will be desperate to win to keep their fate in their own hands.

De Minaur seeks his first win in Turin in his fifth appearance, having debuted last season. He pushed Alcaraz but could not take a set; the Australian left it all on court.

Head-to-head shows Musetti trailing 1-3, though his only hard-court win came at the 2022 Australian Open; Musetti has won all three meetings since, including two on clay this season (Monte Carlo and Madrid).

With 42-15 on hard this season, De Minaur spent the year among the tour's top hard-winners, while Musetti at 25-16 sits 12th for the year among hard-court winners, including a run to the finals in Chengdu and Athens last week.

The Italian talent will try to pick lessons from Novak Djokovic, the seven-time year-end champion who beat Sinner in Athens, as he faces De Minaur.

Doubles to Watch

First up, Italian duo Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori take on Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos, the reigning champions of several major events this season, in a match that could tilt the group one way or another.

Next, Britons Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool aim to rebound against Germans Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz, the defending champions, in a showdown that could decide the bottom of Group Peter Fleming.

Both doubles clashes promise a mix of rhythm, net play, and clutch moments as the teams try to carve out a path toward the knockout rounds.

Punchlines to close on a lighter note: If serves were jokes, these guys would be sending a thousand aces per minute. And if a trophy could talk, it would say, “Nice rally, now can we please just hand over the silverware?”