by Olympic champion Alexander Zverev surprised at the start of the ATP Finals in Turin.
Alexander Zverev spread his arms and greeted the Turin public: the Olympic champion disenchanted Carlos Alcaraz at the start of the ATP Finals.
The 26-year-old Hamburger defeated the second-seeded Spanish Wimbledon winner 6:7 (3:7), 6:3, 6:4 to definitively open the door to the semi-finals.
“I’m happy to be here again. I missed it a lot last year,” Zverev said after his surprising success. Zverev had to sit out 2022 due to injury. “I knew I had to serve well today. I succeeded. I’m happy to have my first win under my belt,” said Zverev, who hit 16 aces
Strong rash as a basis
The winner of the 2018 and 2021 tournament, who beat Alcaraz with a brutal serve and a better balance of risk and safety, will face Russians Daniil Medvedev and Andrej Rublew in the group stage. The top two advance to the semi-finals.
Zverev, who in the third set caused a moment of shock with a fall that ultimately had no consequences and briefly evoked in the audience memories of the horror of his injury in Paris, began the prestigious end of the year as a clear outsider. Participation in itself can be seen as a success in the year of return after the serious foot injury.
“Have fun”
“I simply like being among the eight best players in the world and being able to compete with them,” he said before leaving at the Pala Alpitour, knowing that the tournament suits him: hard court, indoor with no outside wind, two sentences.
He also demonstrated it against Alcaraz, who had clearly shown the limits of the top German player twice this season. The current world number seven, German, did not win a set either in the round of 16 of the Madrid Masters or in the quarterfinals of the US Open.
Alcaraz with unusual weaknesses
In Turin, however, Zverev created his chances from the start with a strong serve and an initially lower error rate than Alcaraz, but then missed four break points at 3:3. Then the Spaniard, who had been a bit weak in recent months, suddenly arrived and showed his class.
At the beginning of the second round, Alcaraz again lost sovereignty, made simple errors, and Zverev quickly moved to 3-0. With three aces in one game he finally sealed the victory of the set.
It continues on Wednesday
His fall should have no consequences: “I didn’t twist my ankle, but I slipped a little. I have a little pain in my Achilles tendon. But I don’t think it’s anything serious. It’s nothing like Paris l last year,” Zverev said.
Zverev will now have a day off on Tuesday before things get serious again on Wednesday. Now, however, the parallel group with Novak Djokovic is once again called into question: the Serbian will meet the South Tyrolean Jannik Sinner on Tuesday evening (9.00 pm), while in the afternoon (2.30 pm) Stefanos Tsitsipas and Boris Becker’s protégé will compete, Holger Rune. .
