Carlos Alcaraz beaten by Casper Ruud in ATP Finals opener

TURIN – Casper Ruud eased to a straight-set victory over Carlos Alcaraz on Nov 11 as the Spanish star’s bid for a maiden ATP Finals title got off to a poor start.

The Norwegian romped through the opening set before fighting back from 2-5 down in the second to win 6-1, 7-5 in Turin, Italy.

World No. 3 Alcaraz, who won the French Open and Wimbledon titles earlier in 2024, made 34 unforced errors in an uncharacteristically errant display.

It was Ruud’s first victory over Alcaraz in their five career meetings.

“I had two good times in Turin before... This part of the season has not been good for me but, hopefully, I’ve saved some wins for this week and I’ve started well,” said 2022 runner-up Ruud, who had suffered seven defeats in eight matches before this tournament.

The 25-year-old will head into his second match in the John Newcombe group against Andrey Rublev on Nov 13 already well placed to reach the semi-finals for the third time in as many appearances at the year-end event.

Alcaraz, 21, could be eliminated if he loses to second-ranked Alexander Zverev, who faced Rublev in his opener later on Nov 11. That match took place after press time.

Third seed Alcaraz quickly slipped 4-1 down, giving up his serve in the fourth game before seeing three break points come and go in the next.

Ruud stretched a double-break in front as Alcaraz fired a loose forehand wide and wrapped up the opening set in just 36 minutes with a hold to love.

The four-time Grand Slam champion improved early in the second set, though, bringing up his sixth break point of the match with a trademark forehand winner. He took the opportunity with a delicate volley and then moved into a 5-2 lead with a clinical hold.

However, world No. 7 Ruud dug deep to force Alcaraz to serve for the set before breaking back en route to levelling the set.

The errors suddenly started to flow again from Alcaraz’s racket and a wild forehand followed by an excellent Ruud return gave the sixth seed the chance to serve for the match.

Ruud closed out the 86-minute clash in style on his third match point with an ace, completing a run of five straight games.

In the late match on Nov 10, Jannik Sinner got his bid for a first ATP Finals title under way with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Alex de Minaur.

Italian Sinner delighted home supporters with a comfortable win over Finals debutant de Minaur of Australia to move to first in the Ilie Nastase Group.

The world No. 1, who had not played since winning the Shanghai Masters in October, had only one brief scare when his serve was broken early in the first set. But the 23-year-old quickly recovered to rattle off four straight games and take the opening set to 5-2 before closing it out with his first set point.

Sinner completed a routine victory in emphatic fashion with a perfect service game and basked in the applause of his home fans after smashing an ace to finish in style.

“It’s a great start for my side for this event, for this tournament, considering I haven’t played for four weeks an official match,” Sinner said.

“I’m glad that I managed to play this kind of level today. I had in the beginning some moments, which is normal, and then I found myself on the court... I’m very, very happy.”

Sinner, who lost the 2023 final to Novak Djokovic, tops the world rankings after a stunning season in which he claimed the Australian and US Open crowns – his first Grand Slam victories – and won five more ATP titles.

However, he has been dogged by controversy after twice testing positive for traces of the steroid clostebol in March.

The Italian was initially cleared by the International Tennis Integrity Agency but, at the end of September, the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed, seeking a ban of up to two years.

Meanwhile, Sinner’s next opponent Taylor Fritz believes the tennis authorities should have clamped down hard on off-court coaching rather than change the rules to allow it, saying it takes away from the sport’s unique appeal.

The International Tennis Federation will allow off-court coaching from 2025 following trials at the four Grand Slams and ATP and WTA Tour events since 2023.

Fritz, who won his opening match at the ATP Finals on Nov 10, thinks organisers have been bullied into the change.

“I think a lot of the reason they made this rule in the first place is they were almost in a way bullied into it because people would just break the rules anyway and coach anyway,” the American said after his win over Daniil Medvedev.

Fritz, who is at a career-high world No. 5, said the simple fix would have been to use microphones in coaching boxes.

“I think there should be mics in the boxes. I think there should be someone monitoring the mics. It should be very, very strict to where if anything goes past just encouragement, immediately you’re penalised. That’s how you fix it,” he said. AFP, REUTERS