Carlos Alcaraz overcame sickness to beat Andrey Rublev in spectacular vogue 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 in the course of 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, seemed 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 nicely 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 continues to be prone to have to beat world No 2 Zverev in his final group match on Friday to be able 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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