Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz suffered a surprising 6-1, 7-5 loss to Norway’s Casper Ruud in his first match at the ATP Finals on Monday, severely damaging his hopes of winning the year-end title for the first time.
While the round-robin format means Alcaraz still has a chance to finish the year strong, the third seed now faces a tough road ahead and must step up his game in the remaining group matches.
Ruud, ranked seventh in the world, had lost all four previous meetings with Alcaraz. However, after saving break points in the opening game, he dominated the first set as uncharacteristic errors flowed from the Spaniard’s racket.
Alcaraz fought back in the second set, breaking Ruud’s serve and moving ahead 5-2. He was two points away from leveling the match but faltered when it mattered most. After dropping serve at 5-3, Alcaraz looked defeated as Ruud won the final five games to seal victory.
The 20-year-old, who claimed both the French Open and Wimbledon titles this year, is aiming to become the first Spaniard to win the prestigious year-end title since Alex Corretja in 1998.
Ruud missed two match points before securing the win on his third attempt, putting himself in a strong position in the John Newcombe group. The group stage continues later on Monday with Alexander Zverev facing Andrey Rublev.
“This is one of my best wins of the season,” Ruud said after the match. “I’m happy, of course. I’ve seen Carlos play better tennis than today, but I still had to take my chances.”
The Ilie Nastase group kicked off on Sunday with world number one Jannik Sinner defeating debutant Alex de Minaur and American Taylor Fritz beating Russian Daniil Medvedev.
