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Preamble

The typical complications of tournament pool play mean at this point of the ATP World Tour Finals viewers are commonly puzzled, hastily looking for a computing device and trying to work out the mind-boggling qualification scenarios. Yet tonight’s match between Zverev and Felix Auger-Aliassime, thankfully, is easy. This is a winner-takes-all affair: the winner secures a final four contest against Alcaraz at this season-ending event; the loser goes home.

Zverev is the favourite for this: the third-ranked player is the player with greater achievements, has been the champion at this competition on two prior occasions and leads their head-to-head with six victories against three defeats, having won both their previous matches on an covered hard surface.

But … this is the surface on which Auger-Aliassime has claimed the bulk of his trophies, he is in great form after his impressive recovery against Shelton on recently and he eliminated Zverev in the US Open initial phase in late summer. Furthermore, conditions are faster in the host city than at Flushing Meadows, which is even more beneficial in AA’s favour.

If Zverev holds back, similar to his performance against Sinner, and the Canadian presses the German with his effective service game and bold strategy, it could well be the 25-year-old Canadian – the former prodigy who was earlier slated ahead of the younger champions to replace the Big Three – who earns the dubious honour of playing against the global leader on Saturday.

The match starts: at around 20:30 in the host city, 19:30 Greenwich Mean Time.