November 13, (THEWILL) – In a thrilling match at the ATP Finals on Wednesday, 21-year-old Carlos Alcaraz defeated Andrey Rublev 6-3, 7-6(8) to boost his hopes of reaching the semi-finals.
World number three Alcaraz comfortably defeated Rublev, world number 27, to lift himself off the bottom of the John Newcombe Group. Despite some doubts over Alcaraz’s fitness, his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero said he had trouble breathing in training on Tuesday.
Alcaraz cruised through the first set in 38 minutes, breaking Rublev’s serve in game seven and then quickly winning the next two games to go one set ahead. The second set was more closely contested, but Alcaraz delighted the fans in Turin with a series of impressive shots.
“I did surprise myself,” Alcaraz said after the match. “I just tried to focus on my game and what I had to do and not that I wasn’t feeling well. Once you step on court you have to forget that.”
Rublev, who dropped to last place in the group after losing his sixth straight Finals match, put up a strong fight and had two set points. Alcaraz’s win in consecutive sets means Casper Ruud will reach the semi-finals if he beats two-time Finals champion Alexander Zverev later on Wednesday.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
