TURIN, Italy (AP) — When it came down to it, Carlos Alcaraz needed less than 90 minutes to secure the year-ending No. 1 ranking in men's tennis.
Alcaraz needed one more win at the ATP Finals to beat Jannik Sinner to the No. 1 spot and the Spaniard duly got that as he eased to a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Italian Lorenzo Musetti on Thursday to sweep his group at the season-ending event for the top eight players.
“It means the world to me to be honest,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview. "The year No. 1 is always a goal. To be honest at the beginning of the year I saw that the No. 1 (was) really, really far away, with Jannik there, winning almost every tournament he plays.
“From the middle of the season till now I put the goal for the No. 1 because I thought it was there ... and finally I got it. For me, it means everything, the work that we put every day during the whole season, up and downs … so I’m really proud about my team and myself.”
It is the second time in his career that the 22-year-old Alcaraz has ended the year at the top of the rankings.
The Spaniard became the youngest player to finish a year at No. 1 when he achieved the feat as a 19-year-old in 2022.
Alcaraz had to win three of his matches at the season-ending event for the top eight players to finish No. 1, while Sinner had to go undefeated to defend his title to be in with a chance.
Alcaraz — who admitted he was feeling nervous at the beginning of the match — didn’t give him that chance as he swept aside Musetti despite a partisan home crowd, sealing the result on his third match point.
That was his third win in the Jimmy Connors group and Alcaraz will face the winner of Friday's match between Alexander Zverev and Felix Auger-Aliassime in Saturday's semifinal.
De Minaur advances
The victory also sent Alex de Minaur through to the semifinals after the Australian earlier claimed a first ATP Finals victory.
De Minaur beat Taylor Fritz 7-6 (3), 6-3 for his first victory in six matches at the tournament, following his debut last year.
“I finally won here in Torino,” said De Minaur, who needed a straight-set win to stay in contention for a semifinal spot.
De Minaur never looked back after dominating the tiebreaker and had a chance to seal victory on Fritz’s serve when he moved to match point, but the American held. De Minaur kept his nerve on serve to triumph.
The seventh-seed will face Sinner in the final four.
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