Alcaraz off to winning start at ATP Finals with De Minaur romp, Djokovic pulls out

Top seed Carlos Alcaraz began his bid for a first ATP Finals trophy with a 7-6(5) 6-2 win over Australian Alex de Minaur in their round-robin clash at the season-ending championships in Turin on Sunday.

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Alcaraz won his opening ATP Finals match for the first time despite De Minaur's battling display where the Australian recovered from 4-1 down to force a tiebreak in the opening set before the Spaniard came out on top.

The pair traded breaks of serve at the start of the second set, but Alcaraz broke twice more to again lead 4-1 and this time there was no comeback despite De Minaur's valiant effort in the opening match of the Jimmy Connors Group.

Both players were looking to improve on last year's showing, where Alcaraz lost two of his three round-robin matches in straight sets while De Minaur lost all three group matches. Alcaraz had lost the opening match at his previous two appearances.

"It was a really difficult match," said Alcaraz.

"On this surface, Alex makes the most of the speed of the ball, he's super fast and really difficult on return. I'm just really happy to get through this really difficult challenge."