(Tennis news) Djokovic finished second in the Green group and advanced to the next round, while his opponent from the Wimbledon final, who defeated Medvedev on Friday, took first place in the Red group.

Although Djokovic stole the top spot away from Alcaraz at the end of the year, the world number two might exact a little revenge by terminating the Serbian’s ATP Finals title defense and preventing him from winning a record-tying seventh year-end triumph.

Following his first-round loss to Zverev, Alcaraz made his belated debut at the ATP Finals by defeating an overly passionate Rublev. This allowed him to take control of his destiny going into Friday’s afternoon match against Medvedev. Alcaraz had overlooked his chances of triumph due to injuries last year.

After losing in the semifinal of the US Open to the hard-court virtuoso, Alcaraz regained his title a few months later. In just one hour and twenty minutes, he defeated Medvedev 6-4, 6-4, and moved up to the top of the Red group rankings.

Alcaraz did not let Medvedev get the better of him again after saving two break points in his second service game. He took advantage of a few of the 2020 champion’s errors to strike 22 winners and prove to be too strong for him with his trademark aggressive style, leading him to the final four.

Alcaraz, who is 20 years and 196 days old, is the third-youngest player to have participated in the year-end championships semifinals. The only players younger than him are Andrei Medvedev (1993) and Rafael Nadal (2006), the latter of whom was involved in the last ATP Finals semifinal match between the top-two ranked players in the world, which ended in a loss to Roger Federer in 2007.

Although Djokovic managed to tame the youthful vigor of Danish protégé Holger Rune in their first encounter in Turin, the Serbian’s defeat by Jannik Sinner on matchday two took control of the champion’s destiny out of his own hands before he took the court on Thursday afternoon with alternative Hubert Hurkacz.

As is typical in encounters with the tall Pole, Djokovic had to withstand a flurry of aces from Hurkacz – 24 in all, treble what Djokovic managed – and the world number nine would take the Serbian all the way to send Sinner to the final four.

Hurkacz was left to lament a string of careless mistakes, though, as Djokovic generally maintained his composure and won 86% of the games on his second serves in the decisive set. The holder quickly raced to a 7-6[1] 4-6 6-1 triumph to give himself a realistic chance of qualifying for the semi-finals.

Also read: Carlos Alcaraz will play Daniil Medvedev in ATP Finals