Auger-Aliassime overcomes 'weird start' to beat Shelton
Felix Auger-Aliassime puts a “weird start” aside to beat Ben Shelton and register his first victory of this year’s ATP Finals.
Felix Auger-Aliassime puts a “weird start” aside to beat Ben Shelton and register his first victory of this year’s ATP Finals.
Felix Auger-Aliassime showcased his trademark indoor brilliance and mental fortitude on Wednesday at the Nitto ATP Finals, where he got up and running with a thrilling comeback win over Ben Shelton.
The 25-year-old came within two points of defeat in a tense second-set tie-break, but he rallied with grit to seal a 4-6, 7-6(7), 7-5 victory after two hours, 25 minutes in Turin. Although Shelton’s relentless serve-and-volley pressure posed constant challenges, Auger-Aliassime stayed composed to notch his Tour-leading 20th deciding-set win of the season.
Comeback 👑@felixtennis flips the script on Shelton and becomes the second man to record 40 hard-court wins this season!#NittoATPFinals pic.twitter.com/UY0IizKaCO
— ATP Tour (@atptour) November 12, 2025
“He was playing much better than me at the start,” Auger-Aliassime said. “It’s not often that I get broken twice in the first set indoors… It was a weird start, but as the match went on I was finding ways to put returns in the court. Once we engaged in the rallies, I felt like I could win more. You just have to fight, believe, and play the next point the right way.”
With the victory, Auger-Aliassime keeps intact his hopes of reaching the semi-finals at the prestigious season finale for the first time. Having fallen to defending champion Jannik Sinner in his opener, he now sits at 1-1 in the Bjorn Borg Group and will face third seed Alexander Zverev in his final round-robin match on Friday.
There were concerns over Auger-Aliassime’s physical state after he suffered an injury scare during his defeat to Sinner, but he silenced those doubts as he moved freely against Shelton. It was in fact the American who took a tumble in the second-set tie-break, in which he threw in a costly double fault on set point to offer Auger-Aliassime a route back in.
“I felt great, physically. We recovered well, did the right things,” said Auger-Aliassime. “Today I was able to play two-and-a-half hours of high-intensity tennis. I have to give him credit, he kept coming up with great serves. When the opponent plays that well, you have to give him credit, but also to myself for staying cool.”
Auger-Aliassime, the No. 8 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, has been a proven threat on indoor hard courts over the years, tallying a record 84 wins in these conditions this decade, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. Once he levelled the score against Shelton, he found his groove on serve and ultimately found a way through to improving to 2-0 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.
Shelton will be left to rue missed opportunities as he slips to 0-2 in the Bjorn Borg Group on his debut at the season finale. He lost five consecutive points from 6/3 in the second-set tie-break against Zverev in his first match and hit a series of crucial unforced errors at a similar moment against Auger-Aliassime.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Kanoa Igarashi knows what it takes to compete at the highest level of sport, winning a silver medal in surfing at the Tokyo Olympics. But that has not stopped the 28-year-old from being impressed by what he saw at the Nitto ATP Finals.
“Tennis has always been that sport where it’s the most physical and mentally the most difficult sport in the world,” Igarashi told ATPTour.com. “As a sportsperson, I look at a lot of tennis players as inspiration, and I draw a lot of ideas from them. But it was my first experience coming into a tournament last week in Paris, and then all of a sudden, I’m here in Turin, so it was a crazy few weeks in the little tennis part of my brain.”
Based in Lisbon, Igarashi has quickly become a big fan of tennis. After attending the Rolex Paris Masters and the Nitto ATP Finals as a content creator for the ATP, the Japanese star has gotten to know some of the sport’s best players.
“It’s crazy. Just building a relationship with some of these guys and having a good conversation with some of these athletes, it’s really made me realise that it’s crazy the similarities between sports,” Igarashi said., “At the end of the day, we’re trying to become the best no matter what you’re playing: soccer, basketball, tennis, or my sport, surfing. There’s so many different ways to do your sport, but the goal is the same.”
Igarashi has enjoyed exchanging ideas about preparation for competition as well as training, both on and off the field of play.
“I went home every day, taking notes off of some of the guys. [They] told me and said, ‘Hey, have you ever trained like this or have you ever done this kind of breathing exercises? Have you ever looked at your sport in this way?’” Igarashi said. “[There are] different perspective, different angles, and I felt like I grew a lot as an athlete and in my own sport. So to say, some of these last few weeks, things that I’ll take with me for my upcoming season.”
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One of the conversations that stood out was with Felix Auger-Aliassime, who qualified for Turin during the last week of the season. They spoke about breathing and dealing with pressure.
“Tennis is about resetting after each point, whether you win or lose, and being fresh for the next point. Same with surfing. We catch waves, and you’re supposed to reset after each wave and make sure that you’re physically and mentally reset going into the next ride,” Igarashi said. “We were talking about some breathing stuff and were sharing techniques and the ways we dealt with in our own way.
“We picked each other’s brains a little bit, and it was a good conversation. He’s very philosophical. I am too. Especially with the sport that I’m in, you really have to be. So it was cool.”
The ATP and TikTok have officially launched the Tennis Creator Network, a global creator initiative that debuted this week at the Nitto ATP Finals. Igarashi is a member of the Tennis Creator Network, who was representing Indian Wells in Turin. Learn more about the pioneering initiative here.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Alex de Minaur did not hold back after his agonising three-set defeat to Lorenzo Musetti on Tuesday evening at the Nitto ATP Finals. The Australian served for the match at 5-4 in the third set but eventually fell 5-7, 6-3, 5-7 and is now 0-2 in the Jimmy Connors group.
“If I really want to be serious about taking the next step in my career, these matches, I can’t lose them. I just can’t,” De Minaur said in his post-match press conference. “I mean, it feels like I’ve lost a lot of them this year. More than anything, it’s getting to a point where mentally it’s killing me.”
The 26-year-old, who is now 0-5 across his two appearances at the prestigious year-end event, lost in the third set against Alexander Bublik in the quarter-finals in Paris last month and also fell in a decider to No. 2 player in the PIF ATP Rankings Jannik Sinner in Beijing. While De Minaur has won a career-best 55 tour-level matches in 2025, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index,, he has lost in the deciding set on eight occasions, including against Musetti in the Monte-Carlo semi-finals.
“I just [need to] win these matches. It’s something that if it doesn’t get sorted, it’s going to eat me alive,” De Minaur said. “I need to get it sorted sooner rather than later. I don’t know how many times I can deal with a loss like this one.”
De Minaur, a champion in Washington earlier this year, will face Taylor Fritz in his third and final round-robin match on Thursday. The seventh seed can still qualify for the semi-finals.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Lorenzo Musetti is alive and kicking at the Nitto ATP Finals. The Italian earned his maiden victory at the prestigious year-end event on Tuesday night, when he battled past Alex de Minaur 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 in a Turin thriller.
Buoyed by a raucous home crowd, Musetti mounted a stunning comeback from 3-5 down in the deciding set to move to 1–1 in the Jimmy Connors Group and keep his qualification hopes firmly intact. The 23-year-old sealed victory on his second match point when he blasted a forehand winner pass on the run before he celebrated with his team courtside.
“I was really struggling physically because Alex raised the level and intensity and I was really struggling to find the solution,” Musetti said. “But at the end with a big heart and big passion for this game, I don’t know from where, I started to feel better and play better and the support of the crowd is amazing. I have to thank them all.”
The 23-year-old was transformed from the player who had fallen to Taylor Fritz just 30 hours earlier. He buzzed around the baseline with renewed intent, hammering through De Minaur’s defences with weighty ball-striking and punctuating key moments with fist pumps to whip up the home support.
After fading in the second set, Musetti rediscovered his spark when it mattered most. He recovered from losing a breathtaking 31-shot rally at 4–3, 30/30, one that featured a forehand tweener and left both players flat on the court, before mounting a dramatic late charge. When De Minaur served for the match, Musetti struck back to break, then rode a wave of momentum and noise to seal one of the biggest wins of his season after two hours and 47 minutes.
Musetti will face the No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings Carlos Alcaraz in his third match on Thursday. The Spaniard, aiming to win the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time, is 2-0 this week, having beaten De Minaur and Fritz. All four players can still qualify for the semi-finals.
“I am a warrior,” Musetti added. “I have improved a lot on the mental side and I am pushing myself to the limit because I am playing every match against the top players. The next one coming is against Carlos. I know how difficult it is, especially in these conditions. I will try to enjoy and fight like I did today.”
Musetti has now won his past three Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings against De Minaur, having also triumphed at ATP Masters 1000 events on clay in Monte-Carlo and Madrid this year. While those matches helped propel Musetti to a final in Monte-Carlo and the semi-finals in Madrid, Tuesday’s victory marked his first win over a Top 10 opponent on hard courts in 2025.
Competing in Turin for the first time, Musetti qualified on the back of a career-best campaign. He reached finals in Monte-Carlo, Chengdu and most recently, Athens last week, compiling a 45–21 record on the season, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. Before 2025, the Italian had never recorded more than 40 tour-level wins in a single year, a milestone he has now left well behind.
De Minaur’s best result this season came at the ATP 500 event in Washington, where he won the trophy. The 26-year-old, who also reached the final in Rotterdam, is 0-2 this week.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Emilio Nava is looking to finish his season in style. Competing this week at the Uruguay Open at a career-high No. 88 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Nava on Tuesday began his quest for a season-leading fifth ATP Challenger Tour title.
The third-seeded American kickstarted his campaign in Montevideo in emphatic fashion, ousting Daniel Dutra da Silva 6-2, 6-4 in the opening round. Nava dropped just five points behind his first serve and saved all three break points he faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats.
Challenger Singles Titles Leaders, 2025
| Player | Titles |
| Nicolai Budkov Kjaer | 4 |
| Jan Choinski | 4 |
| Borna Coric | 4 |
| Emilio Nava | 4 |
| Patrick Kypson | 4 |
Nava has earned all four of his Challenger trophies this year on clay, a single-season record amongst Americans. Earlier this season, he went on a 19-match winning streak on the surface, a run during which he won three titles (Asuncion, Concepcion and Sarasota) and finished runner-up in Tallahassee.
Nava’s countryman Tristan Boyer, the defending champion in Montevideo, was also in action Tuesday, but the 24-year-old was upset. Argentine Alex Barrena rallied past Boyer 6-7(1), 7-5, 6-1.
Ecuador’s Alvaro Guillen Meza shocked top seed Sebastian Baez 7-6(3), 6-4 to reach the second round. Former World No. 17 Cristian Garin advanced with a 6-3, 7-5 victory against Andrea Collarini.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Alvaro Guillen Meza is EVERYWHERE 😎
The Ecuadorian lights up Montevideo, taking down top seed Baez 7-6(3), 6-4! 👏#ATPChallenger | @uruguayopen pic.twitter.com/aDaRc2bs9s
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) November 12, 2025
Novak Djokovic still believes he can win a 25th Grand Slam title – despite being given a “slap from reality in the last couple of years”.
A confident, heavy-hitting Taylor Fritz carried the momentum for much of the first 90 minutes against Carlos Alcaraz at the Nitto ATP Finals on Tuesday. But the Spaniard displayed his trademark resilience and escaped with a 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-3 victory.
Last year’s finalist dissected his three-set defeat in his post-match press conference, specifically highlighting his missed opportunities, none more notable than when he let slip two break points at 2-2 in the second set.
“My opportunity to win that match was in the second set, and I didn’t take it,” Fritz said. “I had the chances. I had all I could ask for.”
While holding his first break point of the second set, Fritz had the upper hand in a thrilling 19-shot rally, but Alcaraz quickly turned the tables and moved forward to put away a backhand volley. Fritz had a chance for an overhead but he elected to let the ball bounce, a decision he later admitted, “I probably should have
sent it out of the air.”
It was a rare lapse in aggression from Fritz, who otherwise pulled no punches against the World No. 1.
“I’d say the thing that’s frustrating is most of the opportunities that come to my mind were all on me actually having the ball that I want to really attack on, just not hitting it well enough,” said Fritz, who is 1-1 in the Jimmy Connors group.
“The first two sets of this match I felt like I was getting a lot of opportunities. That was because I was returning really well, returning really aggressive.”
Fritz is now 1-5 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Alcaraz, with four of their meetings coming this year. The American earned his maiden win against Alcaraz at the Laver Cup in September. Reflecting on his encounters with the Spaniard, Fritz had high praise for the 22-year-old.
“He is always on offence,” Fritz said of Alcaraz. “I don’t even get a chance to get the balls to attack. Today I did, I just wasn’t clinical enough in finishing some points on some really big points.”
Up next for Fritz is Australian Alex de Minaur, whom the American is tied with at 5-5 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series. It will mark their first meeting of 2025.
Asked about his knee tendinitis, Fritz acknowledged that he will continue playing through the pain.
“I start to feel it when I’m bending, loading, kind of stomping,” said the 10-time tour-level titlist. “I think a big part of why it got going today is, one, the match yesterday, and two, I was returning very explosive in this match. It’s one of the best matches I’ve returned for two sets. The pushing off, the landing when I’m returning, that puts a lot of force through it. It’s just tendinitis. It’s just gotten worse.
“You could probably line up a video and compare side by side and see that in the third set, my back leg is just not bending as much, not loading as much as it was earlier in the match.”
Watch Highlights from Alcaraz vs. Fritz in Turin:
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