It was a repeat of last week’s Paris Masters final between two of the tour’s deadliest players on a hard indoor court. Once again we learned that there are different levels of lethality.
Jannik the Sinner extended his indoor winning streak to 27 on Monday night in Turin, beating eighth-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-5, 6-1.
“It was a very tough match until 6-5,” Sinner said. “He played very aggressive tennis, so I’m very happy that I was able to overcome a difficult test today.”
If Sinner can make it through the group stage unscathed, he will tie Roger Federer for the fifth-longest indoor winning streak in ATP history.
Sinner, the reigning ATP Finals champion, improved to 4-0 against the Canadian in 2025, and 4-2 overall against the Montreal native.
It was a close race, at least for a while…
The physicality began to set in at the end of the opening set, and Sinner managed to take advantage, building a 30-0 break in the 12th game of the set to win the opening set, 7-5 in 58 minutes.
Auger-Aliassime was seen clutching his left calf between points late in the set, and has been struggling with his left knee recently.
Sinner was dominant in the opening set on his serve, winning all 21 first serve points and capturing 24 of 27 service points in the set.
The worst fears were realized as the second set began. It became clear that whatever was holding Auger-Aliassime back wasn’t going away. Anxiety weighed on him and he tried to play fast tennis to no avail as Sinner soon broke for 2-0 when a high-risk Auger-Aliassime forehand flew wide.
After Sinner held for 7-5, 3-0 Auger-Aliassime met with medics on the field and the injury was assessed.
“I can’t push,” he said, referring to the high push in his serve, after the doctor worked on his left calf and initiated a medical timeout.
Auger-Aliassime soldiered on, but the double came quickly when Auger-Aliassime fired a volley at the net to give Sinner a 5-1 lead in the second set.
The Italian took it from there, sealing his 54th win of the season against just six losses with an ace in one hour and 40 minutes.
“I hope it’s nothing too serious,” Sinner said of Auger-Aliassime. “I wish him a very speedy recovery.”
After the match, Auger-Aliassime told reporters that he was not worried about his problem. He expects to be fit for his next match in Turin.
“I’m not too worried,” he said. “He’s a great player. You have to give him credit when the guy is better than you. Today he was better than me. I’ll prepare for another one.
“But no, I’m not too worried.”
Sinner finished with 16 winners against 13 unforced errors, while Auger-Aliassime hit 17 winners and 33 unforced errors. Sinner won 32 of 36 first serve points, never faced a break point and needed just three aces.
Sinner moves ahead of Bjorn Borg in the ATP Finals rankings, ahead of Alexander Zverev in power plays.
