Casper Ruud caused an upset on day two of the Nitto ATP Finals as the Norwegian defeated Carlos Alcaraz 6-1 7-5 in the John Newcombe group.
Ruud won his first meeting against Alcaraz on his fifth attempt to blow the group wide open as he played some aggressive tennis.
However the Spaniard was way too inconsistent and lacked his usual intensity as his poor record at the ATP Finals continued.
It looked like Alcaraz was going to have his way early on in the match with the Roland Garros and Wimbledon champion creating break points in the opening game.
The sixth seed would deny Alcaraz with some clutch serving, holding in the opening game before unloading on the return.
Some deep and aggressive forehand returns caught Alcaraz by surprise and Ruud stunned the Turin crowd by breaking for a 3-1 lead.
Although Alcaraz continued to persist on return with some stunning winners, the third seed never really found his clinical edge with three more break points coming and going in the fifth game.
That was quite the opposite for Ruud as he broke for a 5-1 lead before closing out the opening set to love.
There was work for Alcaraz to do with the Spaniard showing he meant business in the second set, only conceding one point in his opening three service games.
A much cleaner set from Alcaraz who was starting to produce moments of magic with a stunning volley being the highlight in the Spaniard breaking for a 4-2 lead before consolidating the break comfortably.
Another high quality return game saw Alcaraz put pressure on Ruud but the Norwegian forced the world number three to close out the second set.
Surprisingly this is when Alcaraz lacked intensity and made clumsy unforced errors which allowed Ruud back in the match, breaking on two consecutive occasions to serve for the match.
On his third match point, a fifth ace of the match sealed a significant win for Ruud who will now play the winner of Alexander Zverev against Andrey Rublev on Wednesday.
As for Alcaraz it was a bad day at the office with the Spaniard having work to do in order to qualify for the weekend’s semi-finals.
