Alcaraz has never won the end-of-year tournament, where the eight best tennis players of the season compete against each other. The current number 2 in the world broke the Australian on his second serve.
De Minaur straightened up, broke the Spaniard back and came alongside. Alcaraz still took the set in a tiebreak. In the second set, De Minaur lost his first three serves to the Spaniard, who won the match after 1 hour and 42 minutes.
In the group stage, Alcaraz will compete against the American Taylor Fritz and Italian Lorenzo Musetti. Musetti (23) lost to Novak Djokovic in the final of the Athens tournament on Saturday. After the win, the Serbian withdrew from the ATP Finals with a shoulder injury, so Musetti was added to the tournament in his own country.
Zverev starts ATP Finals with victory over Shelton
Alexander Zverev started the ATP Finals with a victory. The third-seeded German tennis player defeated the American Ben Shelton in two sets: 6-3 7-6 (6).
Zverev takes the lead in the Björn Borg group with the victory. Jannik Sinner and Félix Auger-Aliassime are the other tennis players in this group. They play against each other on Monday evening.
In the first set, Zverev twice won the serve against the American number 6 in the world rankings. There were no breaks in the second set and the decision came in the tiebreak. Shelton ran out to 4-0, but Zverev survived three set points and struck on his first match point.