Carlos Alcaraz defeats Alex de Minaur in ATP Finals opener

TURIN, Italy — Carlos Alcaraz got his bid to win a first ATP Finals crown — and claim the year-end No. 1 ranking — off to a positive start on Sunday with a straight-set victory over Alex de Minaur.

Alcaraz recovered from a topsy-turvy opening set to triumph 7-6 (5), 6-2 over the seventh-seeded De Minaur in the opening match of the season-ending event for the top eight men’s players.

Ben Shelton saw three set points saved on his ATP Finals debut with two-time champion Alexander Zverev going on to beat the American 6-3, 7-6 (6).

Top-seeded Alcaraz is involved in a tussle with defending champion Jannik Sinner to end the year as No. 1 and the Spaniard can secure that — regardless of what his rival does — if he reaches the final.

It was the first time Alcaraz had won his ATP Finals opener.

“This tournament is one of the best tournaments we have on tour, without a doubt,” Alcaraz said. “We’re playing against the best players in the world, which shows how difficult and important it is.

“I’ve been struggling in the past few years to come to the end of the year with motivation. This year is a little bit different, which I’m proud about, I’m doing the right things to give myself a shot to try and win this tournament.”

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Alcaraz seemed in firm control of the opening set. He had already broken De Minaur to love and threatened to do the same in the sixth game to go 5-1 up, but the Australian fought back to deuce before staving off another break point and then taking the game.

De Minaur then broke back and took the set to a tiebreaker where he had a 5-3 advantage before Alcaraz rallied.

The 22-year-old Alcaraz dominated the second set, dropping his serve early but winning all the other games and sealing the victory with a cross-court backhand on his second match point.

Taylor Fritz is also in the Jimmy Connors group with Alcaraz, De Minaur and Lorenzo Musetti, who replaced the injured Novak Djokovic.

The Bjorn Borg group has Sinner, Zverev, Shelton and Felix Auger-Aliassime.

It took the third-seeded Zverev just 28 minutes to wrap up the first set against Shelton, who then appeared to step up a gear and had a great chance to level the match in the second-set tiebreaker.

Shelton raced into a 4-0 lead and wasted three set points before sending a backhand wide to hand Zverev the victory after 93 minutes.

The top two finishers in each group advance to the semifinals.