Carlos Alcaraz overcame sickness to beat Andrey Rublev in spectacular style and revive his ATP Finals hopes with a 6-3 7-6 (10-8) in Turin.
The four-time Grand Slam champion has been struggling with respiratory points through the week which contributed to a gap round-robin defeat to Casper Ruud on Monday.
However the third seed, bidding to win the season-ending Finals for the primary time, appeared far sharper towards Rublev, condemning his opponent to a second defeat in as many matches as he triumphed in straight units.
After sharing the opening six video games, Alcaraz crucially broke Rublev’s serve with a scorching forehand winner and proceeded to reel off 5 successive video games to grab management of the match.
Rublev, who additionally misplaced his opening match to Alexander Zverev, managed to stick with Alcaraz within the second set and will have earned a few break factors at 2-2 had he not missed a routine ball after chasing a drop shot.
Each gamers served effectively to take the match right into a high-octane tie-break during which Alcaraz needed to fend off two set factors earlier than sealing victory together with his second match level.
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Alcaraz’s sensible backhand winner noticed him transfer 5-3 forward within the second set tie-break towards Rublev
Rublev has now misplaced six successive matches in straight units on the ATP Finals since reaching the semi-finals in 2022.
Alcaraz remains to be prone to have to beat world No 2 Zverev in his final group match on Friday with the intention to qualify for the ultimate 4. Zverev faces Ruud in a while Wednesday, with a win for Ruud guaranteeing Rublev’s elimination.
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