Sinner Stymies Zverev, Qualifies For Turin Semifinals

Jannik Sinner
Jannik Sinner (photo: Giampiero Sposito/FITP)

TURIN/WASHINGTON, November 12, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

By now, there’s very little that reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion Jannik Sinner and two-time champion Alexander Zverev don’t know about each other’s games. After all, they’ve met 10 times going back to 2020 – including four times this season – and the Italian from South Tyrol has dominated his German rival in each of their 2025 meetings, dropping just a single set.

As it happened, their latest meeting on Wednesday evening produced the same outcome as their other skirmishes this season. This time Sinner played solidly and won 6-4, 6-3 in one hour and 37 minutes for his fifth straight win over Zverev to improve to 2-0 in the Bjorn Borg Group. The victory qualified him for a semifinal berth this weekend.

As Day 4 at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin brought the World No. 2 Sinner together against No. 3 Zverev for the third time in 17 days, after their title match in Vienna and a semifinal tussle in Paris, the 24-year-old Italian sported a 27-match winning streak on indoor hard courts since losing to Novak Djokovic in the 2023 final of this event. Also, he was in the midst of a 12-0 run of sets in Turin after last year becoming the first man to win the ATP Finals without losing a set since Ivan Lendl in 1986. Now, after his latest conquest of Zverev, Sinner’s winning streak on indoor hard courts now stands at 28 and he remains unblemished in sets won, improving to 14-0.

Meanwhile, Zverev arrived on court at Inalpi Arena looking to record his first win over a Top-2 player since defeating Carlos Alcaraz at the Australian Open last year and to move a step closer toward qualifying for his fifth ATP Finals last four. After the 28-year-old from Hamburg defeated American No. 1 Ben Shelton on Sunday, Zverev aimed to win his first two round-robin matches for the second time after going 3-0 last year. Instead, after losing to Sinner, he’s 1-1 and needs to win his last group match against Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime on Friday in order to have any chance of advancing to the semifinals.

Looking back, Sinner gave a performance that was rich in quality. He played a solid baseline game throughout – winning 28 of 51 exchanges – and also controlled the net, where he won 11 of 12 points. Sinner also knew how to escape from trouble, too. At 1-all in the second set, he faced three break points at 0-40. Not only did Sinner calmly erase each of them, he set up game point with a a forehand volley winner while stationed in front of the net.

Then, Sinner served an ace out wide – his 10th of the match – to hold serve. Certainly, it proved a boost to his confidence and it must have gutted Zverev. Soon, Sinner broke Zverev with an adroitly placed drop shot winner to go ahead 4-2, and consolidated it for an insurmountable 5-2 advantage. It was a matter of time before Sinner closed out his 55th victory of the season. He will play Shelton on Friday to wrap up the group stage. 

“A very, very competitive match, a very close match,” Sinner said during his on-court interview. “I felt like I was serving very well in important moments. I tried to play the best tennis possible when it mattered, which fortunately went my way.”

Sinner, who remains in the chase for ATP Year-End No. 1 if he wins the title as an undefeated champion this weekend and hopes that Alcaraz doesn’t win another match, finished with 28 winners – including 12 aces – made 14 unforced errors and won 83 percent (40 of 48) of his first-serve points. He saved all seven break points he faced and broke Zverev’s serve twice in four attempts. Sinner outpointed his opponent 65-55. Zverev countered with 17 winners and committed 16 unforced errors. He won 72 percent (31 of 43) of his first-serve points.

“We both changed a little bit tactically, so I felt like we both were trying to hit quite fast, quite flat,” Sinner said. “But I’m very happy with how I returned his serve. It’s very difficult. One of the best serves in the game. The group I’m in, with Sascha and Ben, it’s very difficult to return their serves.”

Auger-Aliassime goes the distance to beat Shelton

Earlier Wednesday, No. 8 Felix Auger-Aliassime fought back from a set down to grind out a 4-6, 7-6 (7), 7-5 victory over No. 5 Ben Shelton, in two hours and 25 minutes and prevented the American No. 1 from garnering his third Top-10 win on an indoor hard court.

The Canadian No. 1, who lost his first Bjorn Borg Group match to No. 2 Jannik Sinner of Italy on Monday evening, kept his hopes alive for advancing to the semifinals after coming to within two points of defeat during a tense and dramatic second-set tie-break. It was Auger-Aliassime’s ATP Tour-leading 20th deciding-set victory of the season. Meanwhile, it was Shelton’s second-straight loss in Turin after falling to No. 3 Alexander Zverev of Germany on Sunday.

“It was one of those days where, for some reason, he was playing much better than me at the start,” Auger-Aliassime said during his on-court interview. “It’s not often that I get broken twice indoors in the first set. … It was a weird start – I was not feeling great – but as the match went on I was finding ways to put returns in the court. I felt like once we engaged in the rallies, I could win more. You just have to fight, believe, and play the next point the right way.”

Auger-Aliassime compiled 37 winners – 21 of them from his forehand side – and won 77 percent (57 of 74) of his first-serve points. He converted two of seven break points and outpointed Shelton 103-94. Shelton countered with 26 winners – including 15 from his forehand side – and committed 30 unforced errors.

“I got to give credit to Felix. I thought he did a lot of things great today,” Shelton said during his post-match news conference. “I thought he served really well. I thought the way he hit the ball from the baseline was really good. First ball after the serve. He was aggressive. Came forward a lot. Executed in the big moments. That’s where I didn’t execute.”

After showing signs of physical ailment against Sinner two days ago, Auger-Aliassime moved freely about the court against Shelton. He addressed his physical condition after the match by saying: “I felt great, physically. We recovered well, we did the right things. Today I was able to play two-and-a-half hours of high-intensity, high-quality tennis. I have to give him credit, he kept coming up with great serves.

“I felt like I wanted to put pressure on [Ben], I wanted to make him doubt when he was serving. But he was still coming up with the goods. When the opponent plays that well, you have to give him a lot of credit, but also to myself for staying cool in tight moments and being able to find a way through.”

Around Inalpi Arena

In doubles, two-time ATP Finals champion Joe Salisbury of Great Britain, who is partnered with fellow Briton Neal Skupski, has been lights out in Turin. On Wednesday, Salisbury ran his winning streak to 12 at this event as the British duo held off Australian Open champions Harri Heliovaara of Finland and Henry Patten of Great Britain, 7-6 (7), 3-6, 10-7, in one hour and 43 minutes.

Salisbury went 5-0 and won the 2022 and 2023 ATP Finals doubles titles with Rajeev Ram of the United States. Now, in his first season with Skupski, the Britons have put together a 57-26 win-loss record and reached five finals, including Roland-Garros and the US Open.

The victory lifted Salisbury and Skupski (2-0) into first place in the John McEnroe Group, while it was the first loss for Heliovaara and Patten (1-1). 

Later, Salisbury and Skupski qualified for the semifinals after last year’s finalists, No. 4 Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Mate Pavic of Croatia saved two match points and won a match tie-break to beat No. 8 Christian Harrison and Evan King of the United States, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (2), 13-11, in one hour and 51 minutes Wednesday evening. Pavic poached a forehand winner at the net on the Salvadoran/Croatian duo’s second match-point opportunity and it was their fourth victory over the American partners this season.

Arevalo and Pavic improved to 1-1 in Turin, while Harrison and King dropped to 0-2.

The winners combined for 11 aces, won 86 percent (50 of 58) first-serve points and saved all six break points they faced. The two teams evenly split 166 points. 

Wednesday’s ATP Finals results

Thursday’s ATP Finals order of play

By the numbers

Jannik Sinner has compiled a 36-3 win-loss record on hard courts this season, losing only to Carlos Alcaraz at the Cincinnati Open and US Open finals and retiring against Tallon Griekspoor in the third round of the Masters 1000 in Shanghai.

“Quotable …”

“Just win these matches. I mean, I don’t know. It’s something that if it doesn’t get sorted, it’s going to eat me alive. I need to get it sorted sooner rather than later. Yeah, I don’t know how many times I can deal with a loss like this one.”

– No. 7 Alex de Minaur of Australia, during his post-match news conference Tuesday, after losing to No. 9 Lorenzo Musetti of Italy in three sets. De Minaur led 5-3 in the final set but was unable to close out the victory.

 

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