Jannik Sinner easily defeated Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-4 on Tuesday to go closer to a semi-final berth at the ATP Finals in Turin. Sinner accelerated toward the finish of both sets. Sinner defeated the American in the US Open final in September, overcoming boisterous home crowds to win his last encounter with the American. The Turin audience was curiously following the Italian this time. On the court, Sinner said, “The crowd is really helping me.”

Early in the opening set, Sinner’s serve was under siege from the hard-hitting Fritz, rated No. 5. In the seventh game, which lasted 14 minutes, the American got the first break point of the game, but he was unable to take a chance. Sinner immediately answered, but lost the next game by wasting three break opportunities. In the tenth game, he broke to 15 to win the set. Sinner said, “I am pleased with how I handled the situation, even though I was having trouble returning his serve.”

Until Fritz double-failed on Sinner’s first match point in the tenth game, the second set similarly proceeded on serve. Carlos Alcaraz, meanwhile, defeated Andrey Rublev 6-3, 7-6 (10-8) on Wednesday to start his career here. Despite battling weariness and sickness in the run-up to the match, world No. 3 Alcaraz easily overcame Rublev to move up from the bottom of the John Newcombe Group and seemed to be in much better shape.

Alcaraz’s coach Juan Carlos Ferrero abruptly ended his training session on Tuesday, claiming that he was having respiratory difficulties, raising some questions about whether he would continue in Turin. However, in game seven, the Spaniard broke Rublev and easily won the opening set in 38 minutes. Even though he struggled in the second set, Alcaraz thrilled Turin’s supporters with a string of incredible strokes that gave the impression that he could be getting close to his peak.

After their second consecutive loss here on Wednesday, Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden’s chances of reaching the ATP Finals semi-finals are all but gone. The top-seeded pair of Mate Pavic of Croatia and Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador defeated the sixth-seeded Indo-Aussie combination 5-7, 3-6, dropping them to the bottom of the Bob Bryan group rankings. Soon, Bopanna and Ebden’s two-year collaboration will come to an end.