Alcaraz eases past Rublev to pick up first win at Nitto ATP Finals

Carlos Alcaraz defeated Andrey Rublev 7-5, 6-2 on Wednesday to keep his semi-final hopes alive at the Nitto ATP Finals.

The 20-year-old rebounded from an opening Red Group loss to Alexander Zverev with an aggressive performance against Rublev. In a series of destructive baseline exchanges, the Spaniard outlasted the fifth seed, redlining the ball to improve to 10-5 against Top 10 opponents in 2023.

Alcaraz's 74-minute victory ended a three-match losing streak. The World No. 2 lost to Grigor Dimitrov in Shanghai, Roman Safiullin in Paris, and Zverev in Turin.

"It was a totally different match and level from me. This is the level I have to play if I want to give myself a chance in this amazing tournament," Alcaraz said.

Alcaraz was not at his best in his first match against Zverev, but he was dialed in from the first ball against Rublev on the fast courts inside the Pala Alpitour. In the first set, the Spaniard dropped just one point on his first serve and made only four unforced errors. He took the crucial break in the 11th game of the first set and held on to win the set.

The 20-year-old pushed on in the second set, exploiting Rublev's defense with powerful groundstrokes to force the 26-year-old into errors. Alcaraz moved freely around the court as well, hitting a couple of spectacular passing winners down the stretch. He won the game on his first match point.

Rublev, who won his first ATP Masters 1000 title earlier this year in Monte-Carlo, is now 0-2 in Red Group play after losing to Daniil Medvedev in his first match. In the final round-robin matches in Red Group, the 2022 semi-finalist will take on Zverev while Alcaraz will meet Medvedev.

SportsLigue