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Spanish star and year-end world number one Carlos Alcaraz made it to the championship clash of the ATP Finals, defeating Felix Auger-Aliassime to set yet another title clash against Jannik Sinner on late Saturday night.
Alcaraz, who had received his year-end world number one honours for the second time in his career on Friday, put on an absolute masterclass against Felix, producing many highlight reel moments in his 6-2, 6-4 victory after one hour and 23 minutes. "I felt like I could do everything on court," Alcaraz spoke on his first set performance as quoted by ATP's official website. "It did not matter if I did forehand down the line, drop shot or backhand down the line, I felt that everything was going to be in. I think that confidence helped through the whole match, pushing him to the limit, pushing him to do something different, and I am happy that I continued playing such great tennis," he added. Alcaraz has entered his 11th final of the year, a tour-leading stat and is also the first-ever Spanish player to reach the ATP Finals since Rafael Nadal way back in 2013. All that is left for Alcaraz to do is become the first Spaniard since Alex Corretja in 1998 to lift the season-ending trophy. Sinner had made it to the finals for the third successive year after beating Alex de Minaur 7-5, 6-2 to maintain his perfect record against the Australian. The Alcaraz-Sinner final for the ATP Finals title will be a fitting end to the 2025 ATP Tour, with the world number one and two having a historic year in their own ways, spliting all four major titles amongst themselves and securing a total of 13 titles combined, including four ATP Masters 1000 titles. Alcaraz has an advantage of 4-1 over Sinner in the ATP Head to Head this season and 10-5 overall, but a win over Italy's very own in his backyard would not come easy as he is on a 30-match indoor winning streak and a massive home advantage boost by his side. "It is great facing Jannik," Alcaraz said, looking ahead to the final. "If it was someone else I would not mind to be honest, but it is great. Thanks to him, I will try and approach the match in a different way. More focus and I know I have to play my plan A if I want to beat him, if I want to win the tournament, so I think we will both raise our levels to the top, which is great for the fans and the crowd," he concluded. (ANI)
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