Ruud rockets past Alcaraz at ATP Finals

Casper Ruud got his first-ever win over Carlos Alcaraz, kicking off the action in the John Newcombe group at the ATP Finals with a 6-1, 7-5 victory.

The Norwegian came from a break down in the second set to seal what could be a pivotal win in just under one and a half hours, firing down an ace on his fourth match point.

Alcaraz hit 25 winners compared to Ruud’s 16 – but he also made 26 unforced errors against Ruud’s 10.

His serve in particular buckled, with 59% of points won on his first serve, and 53 on his second.

It was uncharacteristic. In their previous four meetings, Alcaraz had emerged victorious in each of them; and this year, the Spaniard was 6-1 on hard courts against players ranked in the top 10. In contrast, Ruud had never beaten a top 10 player on the surface in five previous encounters, and his overall record this year has been inconsistent, with 49 wins and 23 losses prior to arriving in Turin.

“It’s definitely one of the best wins of the season for me,” said Ruud afterwards, “in terms of who I’m playing, his level, his ranking. I feel very happy. I think we’ve all seen Carlos play better tennis than he did today, but I took my chances.”

Ruud also added that he thought Alcaraz was feeling under the weather, which went some way towards explaining his below-par performance.

Ruud is bidding to become the first man since Stan Wawrinka to reach the semi-finals of the ATP Finals in his first three appearances at the event.

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