Alcaraz reclaims year-end No. 1 ranking

CARLOS Alcaraz needed less than 90 minutes on Thursday (Friday, Nov. 14, 2025, PH time) to clinch the year-ending No. 1 ranking in men’s tennis.

The Spaniard needed one more victory at the ATP Finals to finish ahead of Jannik Sinner and he delivered with a commanding 6-4, 6-1 win over Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti to complete a sweep of his group at the season-ending event for the top eight players.

“It means the world to me, to be honest,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview. “The year No. 1 is always a goal. To be honest, at the beginning of the year I saw that the No. 1 was really, really far away, with Jannik there, winning almost every tournament he plays.

“From the middle of the season till now I put the goal for the No. 1 because I thought it was there ... and finally I got it. For me, it means everything — the work that we put in every day during the whole season, ups and downs … so I’m really proud about my team and myself.”

It is the second time the 22-year-old has finished the year atop the rankings. He first achieved the feat in 2022 as a 19-year-old, becoming the youngest year-end No. 1 in ATP history.

Alcaraz needed three round-robin wins in Turin to secure the top spot, while Sinner had to go undefeated and defend his title to have a chance. 

Alcaraz — who said he felt nerves early — never let that scenario materialize, brushing aside Musetti in front of a partisan home crowd and closing out the match on his third match point.

The victory gave him a perfect 3-0 record in the Jimmy Connors group. He will face the winner of Friday’s (Saturday in PH) match between Alexander Zverev and Felix Auger-Aliassime in Saturday’s semifinals.

Alcaraz’s win also sent Alex de Minaur into the semifinals after the Australian earned his first career victory at the ATP Finals earlier in the day.

De Minaur defeated Taylor Fritz 7-6 (3), 6-3 to snap a six-match losing streak at the event, following his debut last season.

“I finally won here in Torino,” said De Minaur, who needed a straight-sets win to stay alive in the race for the semifinals.

The seventh seed controlled the tiebreak, earned a match point on Fritz’s serve in the second set, and closed out the win without wobbling on his own serve. De Minaur will meet Sinner in the last four.  / FROM THE WIRES