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.

“Just excited to be here, the opportunity. Like you said, not the best week so far for me. Obviously that is frustrating and disappointing, being as big of a tournament as it is,” Shelton told reporters.

“I think there’s a bit of a learning curve everywhere you go. Different tournament, different atmosphere, different format that I never played in, obviously playing the best players in the world.”

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 set 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.

Shelton is not yet out of the picture even without a win from his first two matches, but he has to take on Sinner in his final group fixture.