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Preamble

The typical complications of tournament pool play mean by this stage of the ATP World Tour Finals fans frequently find themselves scratching our heads, hastily looking for a calculator and striving to determine the mind-boggling permutations of qualification. But this evening's contest between Alexander Zverev and Auger-Aliassime, fortunately, is simple. It’s a straight shootout: the victor earns a final four matchup against Alcaraz at this year-end tournament; the loser goes home.

Zverev is the predicted winner for this: the elite athlete is the more experienced competitor, has previously won at this event on two prior occasions and leads their head-to-head 6-3, securing victories in both their previous matches on an covered hard surface.

But … this is the surface on which Felix has secured the bulk of his trophies, he is in great form after his compelling comeback against Ben Shelton on Wednesday and he eliminated the German in the US Open early stage in August. Furthermore, the playing speed is higher in Turin than at Flushing Meadows, which is even more beneficial in the Canadian's favor.

If the German player is reserved, similar to his performance against the Italian, and Felix aggressively challenges the German with his effective service game and fearless play, there is a strong chance the young Canadian – the former prodigy who was previously positioned before the younger champions to succeed the tennis icons – who earns the uncertain distinction of competing with the world No 1 tomorrow.

Action commences: at around 20:30 in the host city, 7.30pm GMT.