Surprise in Turin. Carlos Alcaraz fell on the fast lane before Casper Ruud, in a match in which the Murcian was far from his best level. It was only during part of the second set, in which he was in the lead, that he managed to give an acceptable version. He failed in key moments, in a terrible first set and gave up five consecutive games in the second for the Norwegian to win the first match of his group of the round robin of the ATP Finals 2024.
The Murcian made his debut in Turin in a theoretically simple match. Ruud He was seeded seventh in the masters tournament and didn’t arrive at the best time. But it turned out that the one who wasn’t in his best form at the end of the season was also Alcaraz.
The match was complicated from the start. And that Alcaraz He had two chances to win the first play of the match, the rest. Finally, Ruud saved him, without showing incredible sensations, but he managed to take the advantage with a to break in the fourth game. Despite this, the tie was maximum, to the point that the Spaniard had to try to recover the match lost earlier.
He had three points to make it 2-3 and serve to tie, but he failed in key moments, allowing Ruud consolidated its advantage on the scoreboard, which ended up being definitive. From there, Alcaraz sank and ended up dropping a game again that brought the Norwegian to serve to win the first set.
In just over half an hour, the Spaniard gave up the first set and the match became complicated. More than Ruud’s level, better than what we have seen in recent weeks, it was surprising that of Alcaraz for whom things were not going well. He had to react in the second round if he did not want to be left behind in these ATP finals where, without Djokovic, He is, with Sinner, the main favorite.
Aware that he had no margin for error, Alcaraz The second set started with a lot more credit on serve. He did not let up on his serve, with almost 90% efficiency in his points. This led him to remain solid while waiting to take advantage of Ruud’s decline, which occurred in game six. It was then that the Murcian took the lead in the set, confirming the to break in the next match.
Alcaraz collapses in front of Ruud
Even if the Spaniard made another mistake at the key moment. The tennis player, number 3 in the world, was very good on serve in the second set, but when things got bad, he failed to close the set. He served to win 6-3 and take the match to the third and final set, but Ruud He won the match without excessive problems and gave no options in the tenth game, putting the tie at five.
The sensations were bad again and were confirmed. The service started well with a as, but Ruud He held on and ended up flipping it, breaking it again and confirming another breakout. The Norwegian turned things around in four games, winning them all and serving to take the first group match 2-0. And it did, even though it required three match points. By fast track, he managed to cancel out Alcaraz and win the match.
