See below for our expert daily tennis tips and best bets around the courts for Friday Nov 14th of November 2025!
World No.1 and defending champion Jannik Sinner takes on Ben Shelton in a round-robin dead-rubber in preparation for the ATP Finals semis.
Sinner was the first player to qualify for the last four after comfortably accounting for Felix Auger-Aliassime (7-5 6-1) and Alexander Zverev (6-4 6-3). The Italian’s serve is yet to be broken in Turin.
It’s been a tough but spirited ATP Finals debut for fifth-ranked Shelton. He went down 6-3 7-6 to Zverev, before losing a thriller to Auger-Aliassime 4-6 7-6 7-5.
Shelton hasn’t quite hit his straps since winning the Canadian Masters, with injuries playing their part.
Sinner, meanwhile, is on a 36-3 run and has won 12 straight matches.
Shelton won his first match against Sinner at the 2023 Shanghai Masters, but Sinner has won all seven since – most recently a 6-3 6-3 rout in the Paris Masters quarterfinals two weeks ago. A similar result looms here, despite there being little on the line for Sinner.
Third seed Alexander Zverev and eighth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime square off in a straight shootout for the second ATP Finals semifinal berth from the Bjorn Borg Group.
Zverev boasts a 6-3 lead in the rivalry, but Auger-Aliassime carries a psychological edge after taking out their only 2025 clash – a 4-6 7-6 6-4 6-4 upset in the US Open’s third round.
The 2018 and ’21 ATP Finals champion, Zverev saw off Ben Shelton 6-3 7-6 in his opening assignment before running into a Jannik Sinner roadblock and losing 6-4 6-3.
It was an encouraging performance against the world No.1, however, where failing to convert break points proved costly.
Auger-Aliassime started strongly against Sinner before going down 7-5 6-1 with a calf complaint playing a part. He bounced back with some clutch moments in a 4-6 7-6 7-5 victory over Ben Shelton to stay alive.
A semifinalist at the US Open and the runner-up at the Paris Masters – losing gallantly to Sinner on both occasions – Canadian Auger-Aliassime has unquestionably returned to top-tier status.
Zverev is a $1.53 favourite and may be a touch fresher, but Auger-Aliassime’s indoor hard-court form has been outstanding and his New York victory will provide even more impetus here.
Aussie journeymen James Duckworth and Alex Bolt resume their rivalry in the Brisbane Challenger quarterfinals.
The head-to-head is two-all, but their only clash since 2013 was in a Jingshan Challenger in September with Bolt winning in a third-set tiebreaker.
World No.238 Bolt went on to reach the final of that tournament, including a semifinal win over Mackenzie McDonald. This week he’s cruised past Filip Peliwo (6-4 6-2) and compatriot Marc Polmans (6-4 6-0).
Duckworth has climbed to No.106 after a superb run to the Almaty Open semis as a qualifier – including upsets of Gabriel Diallo and Flavio Cobolli. He eventually went down to Daniil Medvedev in three sets.
Last week the 33-year-old made the final of a Challenger event in Taipei and has overcome Aussies Omar Jasika (6-0 3-2 ret) and Blake Ellis (3-6 6-1 6-4) in Brisbane.
Bolt has arguably been the more impressive of the pair this week, but Duckworth’s recent ATP-level performances are difficult to ignore.
Japanese fourth seed Yosuke Watanuki lines up against French fifth seed Hugo Grenier in the Kobe Challenger quarterfinals.
Emerging from a dismal 1-8 run at all levels, world No.182 Watanuki – who made the last 16 at Indian Wells earlier this year by beating two top-20 seeds – has comfortably overcome Kaylan Bigun (6-4 6-2) and Frederico Ferreira Silva (6-4 6-4) this week.
Grenier, ranked 177th, has been similarly solid in eliminating Igor Marcondes (6-2 7-6) and Hsu Yu-hsiou (6-2 6-2).
The 29-year-old has reached a Challenger final, semifinal and now two quarterfinals since the start of October.
Grenier is the slight outsider despite a stronger base of medium-term form – and looks the better value here.