Sinner breezes past limping Felix

Italian starts defence in ruthless fashion

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Italy's Jannik Sinner hits the ball during his match against Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime at the ATP Finals tennis tournament in Turin.

(AFP)

Italy's Jannik Sinner got his title defence off to a solid start with a dominant straight-sets win over ailing Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime at the ATP Finals on Monday in Turin.

Nine days after their duel in the final of the Paris Masters, Sinner was again the strongest, winning 7-5, 6-1.

But fellow Italian Lorenzo Musetti was earlier outclassed 6-3, 6-4 by American Taylor Fritz.

After a tight first set, Sinner swept aside Auger-Aliassime, who had been hampered by a left calf injury by breaking serve to rush to a 3-0 lead.

He broke him a second time to close out the match with an ace after one hour 41 minutes.

"Obviously winning the first match is very important in this competition and this format," said 24-year-old Sinner.