TURIN, Italy (Reuters) -Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz made light of feeling under the weather as he dispatched Russia’s Andrey Rublev in impressive fashion to revive his ATP Finals hopes on Wednesday.
The Spanish four-times Grand Slam champion has been suffering with respiratory issues in Turin and wore pink nasal tape against Rublev in a resounding 6-3 7-6(8) victory.
Third seed Alcaraz, bidding to win the title for the first time, looked far sharper than during his opening group match which ended in a straight-sets defeat by Norway’s Casper Ruud.
“I did surprise myself,” Alcaraz, who had to abandon a practice session on Tuesday, said on court. “I just tried to focus on my game and what I had to do and not that I wasn’t feeling well. Once you step on court you have to forget that.
“I felt good from the baseline running and felt I had more options today.”
After sharing the opening six games, Alcaraz broke Rublev’s serve with a scorching forehand winner and reeled off five successive games to seize control of the match.
World number eight Rublev, who also lost his opening match to Alexander Zverev, managed to stay with Alcaraz in the second set and could have earned a couple of break points at 2-2 had he not missed a routine ball after chasing a drop shot.
Both players served well to take the match into a high-octane tiebreak in which Alcaraz forged ahead but had to fend off two set points before sealing victory.
Rublev has now lost six successive matches at the ATP Finals in straight sets since reaching the semi-finals in 2022.
Alcaraz is still likely to need to beat world number two Zverev in his last group match on Friday to qualify.
Zverev will face Ruud later on Wednesday with both players seeking their second win. Should Ruud win, he would guarantee himself a semi-final berth while Rublev would be eliminated.
None of the seven singles matches this week have gone to three sets.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Ed Osmond)
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