Carlos Alcaraz skilled a sluggish debut on the ATP Finals on Monday, succumbing to a 6-7(3) 6-3 6-4 defeat towards Alexander Zverev and lengthening his end-of-year stoop with a 3rd consecutive loss.
The 20-year-old world No. 2, who missed final yr’s version of the season-ending championship attributable to damage, blamed for his loss squarely on the quick indoor floor on the cavernous Pala Alpitour in Turin.
“I don’t know why they put this surface at the end of the year,” the Spaniard stated in his post-match news convention.
“All the tournaments we now have performed on laborious court docket are so, so, sluggish after which we come right here to the Masters (Cup), and so they put this court docket so quick.
“I don’t understand why they’ve set the speed so high for this tournament when we have never played on a surface like this all year.”
Alcaraz is seeking to change into the youngest ATP Finals champion since Pete Sampras in 1991 and, regardless of the loss, nonetheless has an opportunity to advance to the knockout phases from the round-robin Red Group.
“This tournament is different for many things, and one of them is that it allows you to go through to the semi-finals despite losing the first match,” Alcaraz posted on Instagram.
The Spaniard’s subsequent match is on Wednesday towards Andrey Rublev, who went down 6-4, 6-2 to Daniil Medvedev in his Red Group opener on Monday.
The Russian duo have been anticipated to duke it out in one other epic showdown after assembly within the Dubai Open’s remaining and the U.S. Open’s quarterfinals earlier this yr.
Fifth-ranked Rublev, nevertheless, fell aside after dropping the primary set and failed to withstand as Medvedev eased to a 7-2 profession file in matches towards his compatriot.
“I felt really good and was able to get the upper hand fast,” Medvedev stated.
“I like to play aggressive on my serve, but Rublev plays in such a style that he doesn’t give me any other option because I don’t have the power of Alcaraz or (Stefanos) Tsitsipas on my forehand.”
The motion continues on Tuesday, with Tsitsipas taking over Holger Rune and world No. 1 Novak Djokovic going through Jannik Sinner.
Source: www.dailysabah.com