Felix Auger-Aliassime left Rafael Nadal’s title hopes at the ATP Finals in tatters as he beat the struggling Spaniard 6-3, 6-4 in round-robin action at the Pala Alpitour Stadium on Tuesday.

Nadal needs to win the year-end title for the first time in his illustrious career to have a chance of preventing compatriot Carlos Alcaraz from ending the year as world No.1, but he faded badly after an encouraging start.

The second-ranked 36-year-old was beaten by American Taylor Fritz in his opener on Sunday and is bottom of the Green Group with one match remaining against Norway’s Casper Ruud.

Nadal, the record 22-time grand slam champion, has now lost four successive ATP Tour matches for the first time since 2009.

Canada’s Auger-Aliassime, now coached by Nadal’s uncle and long-time mentor Toni who sat in his box, will face Fritz in his final group match with a chance of making the last four.

“I had one match to get used to the conditions and I felt my game was better today (Tuesday), I was hitting it with precision,” Auger-Aliassime said.

On Monday, Novak Djokovic continued his dominance over Stefanos Tsitsipas with a6-4, 7-6(4) win after Andrey Rublev battled back to defeat fellow-Russian Daniil Medvedev6-7(7), 6-3, 7-6(7).

Djokovic’s outstanding serving, mighty forehand and all-court defence delivered him a ninth straight win overTsitsipas in their Red Group match.

Djokovic broke the Greek in the opening game and rode that advantage to capture the first set in a match that came just two weeks after the Serbian beat Tsitsipas at the ParisMasters, a tournament that is also played on indoor hard courts.

Tsitsipas showed signs of life in the tie-break but Novakpounded two precis serves to reach the finish line.