It was an all or nothing duel and Carlos Alcaraz has responded by being present at the ATP Finals in Turin. The Murcian, semi-finalist in the 2023 edition, won his first match in the tournament this Wednesday after defeating Andrey Rublev, 6-3 and 7-6(8), in 1 hour and 36 minutes.
That gives him an extra life in order to be in the semifinals on Saturday. He will play everything on Friday where he arrives alive and with good feelings. The worst that can happen may not depend only on your racket but on other results..
Alcaraz has been immersed in a time trial for the last 24 hours to arrive in condition for the appointment. He felt sick to his stomach at his premiere on Monday with Casper Ruud. It was a product of the antibiotics he had taken to speed up his recovery from a bad cold that just wouldn’t go away.
Carlitos was forced to suspend practice on Tuesday as he was not feeling well and took refuge in your rooms at the Principi di Piemonte hotelwhere all the participants in the tournament reserved for the eight best of the year are housed.
This Wednesday he sparred for 35 minutes with American sparring partner Andres Martin. Juanjo Moreno, his physiotherapist, He applied Vicks VapoRub and placed a fuchsia nasal strip to improve breathing.. With it he jumped to play his match with Rublev.
The Russian had won the last precedent on May 1 in the quarterfinals of the Mutua Madrid Open. The Muscovite came out to mark ground from the first point. He knew about his rival’s breathing problems.
Juan Carlos Ferrero’s pupil focused on maintaining his services, with speeds of 220 kilometers per hour. With this power it is prepared to beat everyone on any type of surface, including hard indoor surfaces.
They cheered Rublev on in Spanish from the benchIt is not in vain that his two coaches are Fernando Vicente and Alberto Martín. “Let’s go Ruble“they repeated over and over again.
Carlitos was willing to do magic. He won the first drop shot he tried. He had lost all the ones he had tried on the first day. The options for breaking continued to resist him. He had a 15-40, with 2-2. The Russian reluctantly held serve.
Alcaraz had recovered his fluidity with the right, his hallmark. One of many finally gave him the break in the seventh round of the opening round: 4-3. His powerful serve did the rest.
The Murcian finished the first set in style, taking his opponent’s serve again. He was alive both in the game and in the tournament. He has a cannon on his arm: he had 31 winners in his statistics: 16 with the forehand, five with the backhand and 10 on the serve.
Faster than ever
Never in the previous 262 games in Carlitos’ career had he served so many times above 200 kilometers per hour. It was one service and another too. “I tried to serve better than the other day. All the great players do it,” said the winner at the conclusion. “I’ve earned a lot of free points.”
After the first day I felt bad for the people, because I hadn’t offered them good tennis
Carlos Alcaraz
The rights of the champion of four majors drew angles that were impossible to counteract. Rublev cursed in all languages except Russian, his native language..
The equality in the second set sent the outcome to sudden death. In heads or tails the best usually win. Carlitos wasted a 5-3 and served with a double fault. He saved a set point down at 5-6 and another at 7-8. A winning remainder signed the sentence. The match was directed by the Brazilian Carlos Bernardes, who will say goodbye to tennis next week in the Final 8 of the Davis Cup in Malaga. Carlitos will be there. Now he is in Turin and no one moves him from here.
Rublev covers his faceAntonio Calanni
The carambola is relatively simple: Alcaraz will have to beat Alexander Zverev on Friday and wait. First let’s see what happens with the German and Casper Ruud match. If the German wins, he would need a favor from Rublev on Friday.. If the Russian loses to Ruud there would be a triple tie of two wins and the best percentage of sets and games won would be used. The Spaniard could then be penalized for the six games won on the opening day of the John Newcombe group.
At the moment, At 21 years and 192 days old, he has become the second youngest to have 20 victories against ‘top10’ on a hard surface, only behind Lleyton Hewitt in precocity..
