Turin [Italy], November 13 : Spanish tennis sensation and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz gained momentum in his trophy chase after a defeat to Casper Ruud in the opening clash, beating Andrey Rublev in his second ATP Finals group stage match on Wednesday.
Alcaraz went past Rublev by 6-3, 7-6(8) on Wednesday afternoon at Inalpi Arena in an impressive 96-minute match. After his defeat in the opening match during which he struggled with a stomach issue, Alcaraz was back to his best physically.
Wearing a pink nasal strip to help his breathing, Alcaraz controlled the match by getting four successive games from trailing 2-3 in the first set. He was assisted in that sequence by some poor ball-striking from Rublev. Rublev regained his composure to compete well in the second set, which featured no breakpoints.
who regained his composure to compete well in a second set featuring no break points but was nonetheless unable to deny Alcaraz a straight-sets victory.
"I surprised myself. The way that I played today from the baseline, with my serve. I was really calm. I just tried to be focused on my game and what I had to do and forget about that I am not feeling well and that I am sick," said Alcaraz, according to ATP website.
"Once you step on the court, you have to forget everything, your struggles outside the court, and you try to put your focus on hitting a good forehand, a good backhand, and making good tactics against the opponent. I thought I did that pretty well, and surprised myself," he added.
As he chases his semifinal spot, Alcaraz will next meet Alexander Zverev on Friday.
Also earlier, Jannik Sinner continued his trophy hunt, defeating Taylor Fritz by 6-4, 6-4 on Tuesday night in a pulsating clash.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor