Either Jannik Sinner orAlexander Zverev will take control of Group Bjorn Borg at the Nitto ATP Finals when they collide for the 10th time in their careers on Wednesday night in Turin, Italy. Both guys are 1-0, so even the loser of Sunday’s contest will remain in decent shape to qualify for the semis of the year-end championship.
These familiar foes have already faced each other twice this fall. Sinner triumphed 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the Vienna final before cruising by a far more routine 6-0, 6-1 scoreline in the Paris Masters semifinals. The latter result, however, can be attributed to the German being completely gassed on the heels of a quarterfinal marathon against Daniil Medvedev. Sinner leads the overall head-to-head series 5-4 and has won four straight against Zverev.
The world No. 2 should be able to make it five in a row. He is the defending champion of this tournament, has home-court advantage in front of the Italian crowd, and looked very good in his opening match of the week — a straight-set victory over a red-hot Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Zverev, a two-time champion of the Nitto ATP Finals, opened with a 6-3, 7-6(3) victory over Ben Shelton on Sunday. The world No. 3 is a decent 7-2 in his last nine matches…but both of those losses during this stretch have come to Sinner.
This should be a high-quality and relatively competitive affair, but an obvious edge goes to Sinner.
Pick: Sinner in 2
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.