The starpower at the Nitto ATP Finals is in full effect beyond just the tennis court.

Football star Sami Khedira visited the Pala Alpitour on Sunday and met with Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev by the practice court at the tournament’s main venue. Khedira was a central midfielder whose teams included Juventus, which is based in Turin.

 

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Alcaraz is competing in the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time and leads the Red Group as the second seed. The Spaniard qualified for the season finale last year, but was unable to play due to injury.

Zverev is a two-time Nitto ATP Finals champion appearing for the first time since 2021.

Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek are off the mark at the Nitto ATP Finals.

Competing together in Turin for the second time, the top-seeded duo notched its first match win at the prestigious season finale by downing Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni 6-4, 6-2 on Sunday at the Pala Alpitour.

The opening game of the 2023 Nitto ATP Finals featured a stunning back-and-forth point at 30/30, which included a behind-the-back reaction half-volley from Molteni before Dodig powered a forehand winner. That outcome proved to be a sign of things to come, as Dodig and Krajicek held firm in a series of important moments to clinch a 77-minute victory in Green Group.

“It was very important. I think we played a great match today,” Dodig told ATPTour.com. “To win 6-4, 6-2 is a great start for us. It’s still the group stage and it’s the first match, but it was very nice to play today in a full stadium. We had a good time, great fun with a good crowd, so great to be back in Turin and great to start with a win.”

The Croatian-American pair won three deciding points in the first set, including in the opening two games of the match, to move ahead inside the Pala Alpitour. They then broke their seventh-seeded opponents Gonzalez and Molteni twice in the second set to avenge their defeat in their only previous Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with the Argentines in the Cincinnati semi-finals in August.

Currently leading the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, Dodig and Krajicek are one of five teams competing at the Nitto ATP Finals that could end the year as the Tour’s top team. Sunday’s win was a confidence-boosting start to Dodig and Krajicek’s campaign in Turin, where they lost all three of their group-stage clashes in Match Tie-breaks in 2022.

“Last year we lost three matches in difficult situations,” said Dodig. “This year we’ve come better prepared. Through the year we have played consistently and are the best team, for now. There is more confidence, and it’s all about the big points and how you play them. We’re really happy about today. Those couple of big points, we played well.”

Krajicek is competing at the Nitto ATP Finals for the second time this year. Dodig is making his ninth appearance at the season finale, where he reached the championship match in 2014 alongside Marcelo Melo.

This year’s doubles field at the Nitto ATP Finals features a mix of established teams and breakthrough stars. Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek are leading the way as the top seeds.

“It feels great to come back here, for us a second time as a team together. I’m really enjoying it. Happy that we had a great season. And to finish it here, it’s always the best thing,” Dodig said. “That’s why we fight through the year, to play this one. And hopefully this time we can have a good run.

“Last year, we had great matches. We lost all the matches in the [Match] Tie-break. Hopefully this time, we can do it better. But all in all, great season. Happy to be back.”

The best of the best 🔥

Which team will come out on top and claim the #NittoATPFinals 🏆? pic.twitter.com/cfjumyXx8v

— ATP Tour (@atptour) November 11, 2023

Dodig and Krajicek won this year’s Roland Garros title and triumphed on four other occasions: at Rotterdam, Monte-Carlo, Queen’s Club and Beijing. But the Croatian-American duo will face stern tests in every match of Green Group action, with all teams in Turin champions in their own right.

First up for Dodig and Krajicek will be Argentines Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni on Sunday. The Argentines are both debuting at the Nitto ATP Finals at age 40 and 35, respectively.

“I’m very, very happy. We are enjoying the week, enjoying every practice and tomorrow the match. It’s like a dream come true,” Molteni said. “We always see this tournament, big players from all around the world — and from Argentina as well — playing this tournament. So now we are here playing and we are very happy and very proud that we made it to qualify this year.”

Defending champions Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury are back in the field, competing in the season finale for the fifth consecutive year. In the middle of the season, their Turin hopes seemed in doubt. But they returned to form by winning the US Open for the third straight year.

“It’s amazing to defend the title here, or to try to defend the title, I should say. But I think it’s even more special, because we probably were on the outside looking in for six months of this year,” Ram said. “So the fact that we really basically qualified in the last six months, I think is something that we’re pretty proud of. We didn’t didn’t have a great start to the year, but we really came on strong to get here in the end.”

In the end, this is the event the players wait for all season. Santiago Gonzalez, who will be making his debut alongside Edouard Roger-Vasselin, is excited to get started.

“It was the only tournament left in my bucket list to play. So I’m very happy to do it this year after an amazing year,” Gonzalez said. “At the end of the day we are playing the best teams in the world, so we can win or lose any match. So we will try our best on court.”

Gonzalo Escobar and Aleksandr Nedovyesov saved two mach points in the Sofia doubles final to claim their second tour-level title as a team. The Ecuadorian/Kazakhstani team defeated third seeds Julian Cash and Nikola Mektic 6-3, 3-6, 13-11 to earn a dramatic victory in what was their fourth final in 14 tour-level tournaments together.

“A [Match] Tie-break is always a lottery, but I think in the end we were just a little bit more aggressive,” said Nedovyesov. “Luck was there as well I guess… It was a great tournament.”

Escobar/Nedovyesov will finish the season in 23rd place in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings after a successful close to a week in which Escobar earned his 100th tour-level doubles win. The Sofia title is the Ecuadorian’s fifth at tour-level and Nedovyesov’s second.

“Very happy for the title. But it’s also been a tough year, so this makes me proud of the work we’ve done,” added Escobar.

Hugo Nys, Jan Zielinski” />
Photo credit: Moselle Open

Top Seeds Nys/Zielinski Retain Metz Trophy
Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski saved their most dominant performance for last in the Moselle Open. After a pair of Match Tie-break wins either side of a walkover, the Monegasque/Polish duo defeated Germans Constantin Frantzen and Hendrik Jebens 6-4, 6-4 to complete a successful title defence in Metz.

Nys/Zielinski saved both break points they faced while converting two of their three break chances — one in each set.

The title is their third on the ATP Tour, with their lone title outside of Metz coming earlier this season at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome. Behind the strength of those two trophies this campaign, they will finish the 2023 season in ninth place in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings.