TURIN – Norway’s Casper Ruud knows what the ATP Finals are all about, having reached the semi-finals in his debut in 2021.

On Sunday, however, the 23-year-old needed time to get in the groove but eventually defeated Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 in the Green Group as the tournament kicked off in Turin, Italy.

The season-ending event will see eight players competing in two groups of four, with the top two from each group progressing to the semi-finals.

Ruud and Auger-Aliassime – a debutant on Sunday – will also face Spanish veteran Rafael Nadal, who claimed a record 22 men’s singles Grand Slams in 2022, and American Taylor Fritz.

In the Red Group, 21-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic is seeking a record-equalling sixth ATP Finals title and he will be up against Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas and Russian duo Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev.

Separately, American Brandon Nakashima beat Czech Jiri Lehecka to lift the Next Gen ATP Finals trophy in Milan on Saturday.

Nakashima, ranked 49th, beat 74th-ranked Lehecka 4-3 (7-5), 4-3 (8-6), 4-2 in the tournament which features the eight best players aged 21-years-and-under on the ATP Tour.

The 21-year-old, who won his first ATP title in 2022 in San Diego, succeeds Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz who triumphed in the Next Gen tournament in 2021 and went on to claim the US Open trophy in September.

Alcaraz, 19, became the youngest men’s world No. 1 after his Flushing Meadows victory and would have participated in the ATP Finals and not the Next Gen, but withdrew because of an abdominal tear.

“At the beginning of the year, I had some goals. (One was) to win my first ATP title and to be able to do that in San Diego was super special. Then to finish off the year here winning the title at Next Gen is super special,” said Nakashima. AFP