The Norwegian Casper Ruud, 7th in the world, created the first sensation of the ATP Masters by beating the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz (3rd) 6-1, 7-5, Monday in Turin. Ruud, more comfortable on clay, scored his first victory against Alcaraz in five confrontations.
The 21-year-old Spaniard, lacking inspiration and quickly disconcerted by the superiority of his opponent, conceded the first round in thirty-five minutes.
Alcaraz, already losing his first match in 2023
Alcaraz, winner this year at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, came back to his senses in the second set where he led 5-2 and served to win the set, before collapsing again and losing five games in a row.
A year ago, the Spaniard lost his first match at the ATP Masters, against the German Alexander Zverev, which did not prevent him from reaching the last four.
“I tried to give the best of myself from the first to the last point, he is such a fantastic player, I am happy to have finally beaten him”, underlined Ruud for his part.
Zverev against Rublev this Monday evening
The Norwegian, however, had joined Turin lacking confidence, after his eliminations upon entering the competition successively in Basel, Paris and Metz.
The ATP Masters are particularly successful for Ruud who reached the semi-final in 2021 for his first participation, then the final the following year.
The other meeting in the group will pit Zverev, world No.2 and recent winner of the Masters 1000 in Paris, against Russian Andrey Rublev (8th) on Monday evening.
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