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Preamble

The inherent challenges of round-robin tennis mean at this point of the ATP World Tour Finals we’re often left confused, scrambling about for a calculator and trying to work out the brain-busting qualification scenarios. But tonight’s match between Alexander Zverev and Auger-Aliassime, mercifully, is simple. It's a direct elimination: the successful player sets up a semifinal contest against Alcaraz at this championship finale; the defeated player is eliminated.

Zverev is the favourite for this: the world No 3 is the more accomplished player, has previously won at this tournament previously on two instances and leads their head-to-head six matches to three, winning both the games they've played on an covered hard surface.

But … this is the surface on which the Canadian has won most of his championships, he’s riding a high after his impressive recovery against Shelton on midweek and he eliminated the German in the US Championships initial phase in August. Additionally, the playing speed is higher in Turin than at the US Open venue, which provides an additional advantage in the Canadian's benefit.

If the German player is reserved, as he did against the Italian, and Felix aggressively challenges the European player with his powerful serves and confident shots, there is a strong chance the North American athlete – the former prodigy who was once in line before the Spanish and Italian stars to take over from the legendary trio – who earns the questionable privilege of competing with the top-ranked player tomorrow.

Action commences: at around 20:30 in the host city, 7:30 PM in the UK.