Zverev honored his experience by defeating Shelton in the opening of the ATP Finals

The experience prevailed in the Italian night: Alexander Zverev (3rd) defeated Ben Shelton (6th) by 6-3 and 7-6 (6) after 1h 33min of action in the opening of the ATP Finals 2025. He is the qualifier with the most wins in this edition and the tenth in history with Stefan Edberg and Jimmy Connors.

After half past eight at night, the Turin Olympic Palace received with open arms the protagonists of the first nighttime performance of this edition of the tournament that brings together the eight best tennis players of the season.

The 28-year-old German arrived at the competition with a backpack full of experience on his shoulders. He has qualified eight times, winning 18 of the 28 matches he played and lifting the trophy twice (2018 vs. Novak Djokovic and 2021 vs. Daniil Medvedev).

For the 23-year-old American, however, the situation is more complicated. He obtained the ticket to the exclusive event thanks to an outstanding streak on the North American tour on hard courts, where he reached the semifinals at the ATP 500 in Washington and won his first Masters 1000 in Toronto.

However, in New York expectations were dashed when an unexpected injury forced him to withdraw in the third round, halting the momentum he had built up to that point. In the decisive stretch of the calendar he took care of recovering with the Italian soil as his horizon.

Taking the lead with a 84% points earned on your first servewith few rallies but a millimeter placement necessary to close the points, the 24-time ATP champion stretched his dominance over the charismatic left-hander translated into 10 sets followed since they inaugurated the head to head which, currently, commands with a 5-0 in its favor.

In this way, the one who secured 55 successes in a calendar for the sixth time, after 2017 (57), 2018 (60), 2021 (59), 2023 (55) and 2024 (69), was ahead in the Bjorn Borg group which it shares with the American, the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime (8th) and the local Jannik Sinner (1st), last champion.

All the ATP Finals activity can be followed LIVE, and exclusively, on the AM850 and Disney+ Premium Plan screens.