Felix Auger-Aliassime celebrates after beating Ben Shelton

Turin (Italy) (AFP) - Felix Auger-Aliassime got his ATP Finals bid up and running on Wednesday by beating Ben Shelton 4-6, 7-6 (⁹⁄₇), 7-5 ahead of Jannik Sinner’s clash with Alexander Zverev.

Canada’s Auger-Aliassime won just his second ever match at the season-ending tournament with a battling display in Turin, coming back from a poor start to boost his hopes of reaching the semi-finals.

His win means that current world number one Sinner will qualify from the Bjorn Borg Group if he beats Zverev later in front of a partisan home crowd.

“There was a lot of firepower… obviously we know how good he can serve but I felt that if I was able to engage in the rallies, neutralise his serve maybe I would get a chance at some point,” said Auger-Aliassime to Sky Sport.

“I think I played great, very aggressive, hitting very good balls on backhand and forehand, so I went for it and in the end it paid off.”

Auger-Aliassime’s imposing service game, which included nine aces, eventually broke down Shelton whose erratic play cost him a debut win at the Finals.

The 25-year-old showed no signs of having the calf problem which affected his opening loss to Sinner, and he will face Zverev on Friday with a chance of making the knockout stage.

Shelton looked to be in control when he won the first set at the first opportunity, breaking Auger-Aliassime’s serve for the second time just after having his initial break cancelled out.

Auger-Aliassime won a tight second set which went with serve until the tie-break, when Shelton had to save three sets points before eventually conceding the match lead with a double-fault.

And he won the match at the third time of asking at the end of another bruising set, breaking Shelton and getting a win on the board.