Tennis: Ruud downs Auger-Aliassime as ATP Finals get off to a start in Turin
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Norway's Casper Ruud in action during his group stage match against Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime in the ATP Finals in Turin.
REUTERS
TURIN – Norway’s Casper Ruud knows what the ATP Finals are all about, having reached the semi-finals in his debut in 2021.
On Sunday, however, the 23-year-old needed time to get in the groove but eventually had the quality to beat Canadian debutant Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 in the Green Group as the tournament kicked off in Turin, Italy.
A tight first set saw Ruud being the slightly more consistent player as he pulled clear after the first five points in the tiebreak had gone with serve. He then broke in the seventh game of the second set and that was enough for the third seed to clinch his win in 1hr 51min.
“This is some of the best level that I have played since the US Open,” said Ruud, a finalist at Flushing Meadows in September, but had not got past the quarter-finals in his last four events.
“The last couple of months have been a little bit of a struggle, but you will face difficult moments and maybe these last couple of months was one of those… so today was a great win for me.”
Auger-Aliassime could not replicate his recent form when he won 16 consecutive matches and lifted three straight ATP Tour titles in October and earlier in November.
“Felix has been on a roll this fall and I knew he was going to come out strong,” added Ruud. “I found some of my best level that I have played in recent months. I’m extremely happy to be able to bring that out here in the Finals.”
The season-ending event will see eight players competing in two groups of four, with the top two from each group progressing to the semi-finals. Ruud and Auger-Aliassime will also face Spanish veteran Rafael Nadal, who reached a record 22 men’s singles Grand Slams in 2022, and American Taylor Fritz.
In the Red Group, 21-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic is seeking a record-equalling sixth ATP Finals title. He will be up against Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas and Russian duo Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev.
Separately, American Brandon Nakashima beat Czech Jiri Lehecka to lift the Next Gen ATP Finals trophy in Milan on Saturday.
Nakashima, ranked 49th, beat 74th-ranked Lehecka 4-3 (7-5), 4-3 (8-6), 4-2 in the tournament which features the eight best players aged 21 and under on the ATP Tour.
Nakashima, 21, won his first ATP title in 2022 in San Diego and succeeds Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz who triumphed in the Next Gen tournament in 2021 and went on to claim the US Open trophy in September.
Alcaraz, 19, became the youngest men’s world No. 1 after his New York victory and would have participated in the ATP Finals, but withdrew because of an abdominal tear.
