Late goals from Gianluca Mancini and Francesco Pio Esposito helped Italy to a 2-0 win away against Moldova.
CHISINAU: Carlos Alcaraz clinched the year-end world number one ranking and secured top spot in the Jimmy Connors Group with a 6-4 6-1 win over Lorenzo Musetti at the ATP Finals on Thursday, a result that also sent Alex De Minaur into the semi-finals following his victory over Taylor Fritz.
The Spaniard downed two Italians with one strike, eliminating Musetti from the season-ending championships and railroading Jannik Sinner’s hopes of regaining top spot in the rankings despite a far from stellar performance in his third round-robin win from three.
“The match was really important for me, playing for year-end number one,” Alcaraz said.
“It wasn’t easy at the beginning with the nerves. I tried to handle that pressure the best I could, so I’m just really happy with the level I played and to be able to end the year as the number one.”
Alcaraz, who previously ended the year at top spot in 2022, has had the best season of his career, reaching the final of three Grand Slams, winning the French and U.S. Open and losing the Wimbledon decider, facing Sinner on all three occasions.
The 22-year-old, who won eight titles in total this season, remains on course to win his first ATP Finals after overcoming a brave Musetti performance, where Alcaraz broke at 5-4 up in the first set before comfortably winning the second.
Earlier in the day, when Alcaraz and Musetti were shown on the giant screen as they arrived at the Inalpi Arena, there were huge cheers for the Italian and boos for the Spaniard. However, when they walked onto the court for their showdown, the Spaniard was greeted by warm applause.
Alcaraz took time to settle and hit a total of 21 unforced errors, while Musetti more than held his own in the opening set. He won two service games to love before being broken in a nerve-jangling final game of the set that stretched to over 11 minutes.
After that, it was business as usual for Alcaraz as he broke Musetti in successive service games to race into a 5-1 lead.
Even though the crowd loudly cheered every point won by Musetti, he had no answer once the Spaniard upped his game.
Alcaraz and Sinner could well do battle one final time this year, with the Italian already into the other semi-final as winner of the Bjorn Borg Group before his final round-robin match against Ben Shelton on Friday.
“This tournament is really important for me,” added Alcaraz, who will face either Alexander Zverev or Felix Auger-Aliassime in the last four.
“I’m excited about qualifying for the semi-finals and hopefully getting to the final. We will see, part of the job is done, but I’m excited to keep going.”
Australia’s De Minaur put in a superb performance to bounce back from losing his opening two matches, and beat last year’s losing finalist Fritz 7-6(3) 6-3 in a match where the American’s usually reliable service game let him down.
De Minaur lived up to his ‘Demon’ nickname, showing energy and character as he hustled the lethargic-looking Fritz all over the court. After taking the first-set tiebreak, he stormed to victory following an early break in the second set.
Defeat sent Fritz home, but De Minaur was relying on an Alcaraz win to make the last four, a fact even the Australian seemed confused about after his win.
“Is that actually true or not? I don’t know, I don’t trust you right now, I’m gonna have to see what happens,” De Minaur said when told of the permutations.
De Minaur set up a last four meeting with Sinner despite winning only one round-robin match, the same number as Musetti and Fritz.
ALSO READ:
Juventus appoint former Italy manager Luciano Spalletti as head coach
Israeli anthem booed before World Cup qualifier in Italy amid protests
