After 12 years at the O2 Arena in London, the ATP Finals have moved to the Pala Alpitour in Turin, Italy. Round robin play commences on Sunday and Monday. The top four seeds account for four of the last five champions: Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, Sascha Zverev, and Stefanos Tsitsipas. Andrey Rublev and Italy’s Matteo Berrettini return to the event for the second time, while Hubi Hurkacz and Casper Ruud make their debuts.
In Guadalajara, the WTA Finals will play the last matches of the round robin stage between Sunday and Monday. In Group Teotihuacan, Anett Kontaveit is undefeated and has already qualified for Tuesday’s semifinals. But Barbora Krejcikova, Karolina Pliskova, and Garbine Muguruza all have a chance to join her, with the scenarios covered in the below table provided by the WTA:
Each day, this preview will analyze the most intriguing matchup at each event, while highlighting the other matches on the schedules. Sunday’s play get underway at 11:30am local time in Turin, and 2:00pm local time in Guadalajara.
Sascha Zverev (3) vs. Matteo Berrettini (6) – Not Before 9:00pm in Turin
This should be an exciting opening night session in Turin, featuring a loud crowd cheering on the Italian No.1. But Berrettini is an unproven commodity on indoor hard courts. At this event two years ago, he went 1-2. And he’s just 2-2 across the last two fall seasons on indoor hard courts. The same cannot be said for Zverev, who has won three indoor hard court titles since last October. And on this surface overall, Sascha has claimed 27 of his last 30 contests. Zverev leads their head-to-head 3-1. Their only hard court meeting was two years ago in Shanghai, which the German won in straight sets. All evidence suggests another Zverev victory on Sunday, but we’ve seen many cases in recent months where raucous crowds have had a loud say in the outcome. I’ll be curious to see if the audience’s involvement impacts either player.
Garbine Muguruza (6) vs. Anett Kontaveit (8) – 7:30pm in Guadalajara
Who can stop Anett Kontaveit? And how do you not vote for Dmitry Tursonov as the WTA Coach of the Year? Under his guidance, she has won 28 of her last 30 matches, and as Ravi Ubha highlighted on Twitter, 25 of those have been straight-set victories. Muguruza came back from a set down on Friday night against Krejcikova to keep her semifinal hopes alive. A straight-set win on Sunday would guarantee Garbine’s advancement, while any other outcome leaves her qualification dependent upon the result of the Krejcikova/Pliskova matchup. These two players have split four previous encounters, but just a few weeks ago in Moscow, Kontaveit dominated Muguruza 6-1, 6-1. A similar result seems likely on Sunday, which would be Anett’s 13th consecutive win.
Other Notable Matches on Sunday:
Daniil Medvedev (2) vs. Hubert Hurkacz (7) – Medvedev is the defending champion of this event, as he went 5-0 last year. They met twice in 2021, and both encounters were quite epic. At Wimbledon, Hurkacz prevailed in a five-setter spread across two days. In Canada, Medvedev was victorious in a final-set tiebreak.
Barbora Krejcikova (2) vs. Karolina Pliskova (3) – With a record of 0-2, Krejickova’s only chance of advancing is if she wins, and if Kontaveit wins in straight sets. Pliskova has a few more qualification scenarios with a record of 1-1. Their only tour-level meeting was three years ago at Roland Garros, which went to Pliskova in straight sets.
Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic (1) vs. Kevin Krawietz and Horia Tecau (8) – Mektic and Pavic were easily the best team of 2021 with nine tournament wins, which included Wimbledon and the Tokyo Olympics. But they have cooled off in recent months, losing six of their last nine matches. Krawietz and Tecau won two titles this season, both in Germany. When these teams played this past August in Toronto, Mektic and Pavic prevailed in two tiebreaks, with the second decided by a score of 14-12.
Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos (4) vs. Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek (6) – Granollers and Zeballos were champions at two Masters events this year, while Dodig and Polasek won the Australian Open.
Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara (2) vs. Sam Stosur and Shuai Zhang (5) – The Japanese team have already advanced to the semifinals, while Stosur and Shuai have been eliminated from qualification, so this will be a dead rubber.
Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Demi Schuurs (4) vs. Darija Jurak and Andreja Klepac (7) – Advancement scenarios here are simple: whichever team wins will earn a spot in the semifinals.
Sunday’s full Order of Play in Turin is here, and for Guadalajara is here.
