The occupational hazards of group stage tennis often result in by this stage of the season-ending championships we’re often left scratching our heads, hastily looking for a calculator and striving to determine the brain-busting qualification scenarios. But today's game between Zverev and Felix Auger-Aliassime, thankfully, is easy. It's a direct elimination: the winner secures a final four contest against Carlos Alcaraz at this season-ending event; the defeated player is eliminated.
Zverev is the predicted winner for this: the third-ranked player is the more experienced competitor, has been the champion at this competition twice before and holds the advantage in their personal record 6-3, winning both their previous matches on an indoor hard court.
Yet … this type of playing field on which Auger-Aliassime has claimed the majority of his titles, he’s riding a high after his impressive recovery against Shelton on Wednesday and he took out Zverev in the US Open third round in August. Furthermore, conditions are faster in the host city than at the US Open venue, which provides an additional advantage in the Canadian's favor.
If Zverev holds back, similar to his performance against Sinner, and Felix aggressively challenges the European player with his powerful serves and confident shots, it might very well be the 25-year-old Canadian – the one-time phenom who was previously positioned ahead of Alcaraz and Sinner to take over from the Big Three – who secures the questionable privilege of facing the global leader the next day.
Action commences: at about 8.30pm local time, 19:30 Greenwich Mean Time.
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