TURIN, Italy :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.

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 se

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