Abu Dhabi: Carlos Alcaraz clearly loses the comeback, Tsitsipas beats Ruud
Carlos Alcaraz returned to the big tennis stage in Abu Dhabi after losing to Andrey Rublev . In a duel between two top 5 players, Stefanos Tsitsipas clearly won against Casper Ruud.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Dec 17, 2022, 05:09 pm
Carlos Alcaraz is not yet at 100 percent. The world number one - who played the first match since the ATP Masters 1000 event in Paris-Bercy at the Mubadala World Tennis Championships in Abu Dhabi - could see that in phases in his opening duel with Andrey Rublev. In which the 19-year-old clearly lost out with 2: 6 and 1: 6.
Alcaraz had to accept an early break, had direct chances for the rebreak, but left them unused. Unlike Rublev, who also knew how to thwart the Spaniard's break opportunities: The Russian mostly kept the upper hand in hard-fought games and made the 6-2 set win perfect with another break. Only to start with a break in section two.
Rublev against Tsitsipas
Carlos Alcaraz defended himself as best he could afterwards, but still didn't manage to really hit the server Rublev. This played - the early break in the back - strongly and gave the 19-year-old less and less air to breathe. The logical consequence: The second round also went to the 25-year-old, who made the final in the Emirate perfect with 6: 2 and 6: 1.
The final for the night of the world rankings is against Stefanos Tsitsipas, who showed a great performance against Casper Ruud and got the upper hand 6-2 and 6-2 in just over an hour of play. In the first match of the day, Cameron Norrie defeated the Croatian Borna Coric in the duel of those players who lost their quarter-finals on Friday. The final and third-place game will take place on Sunday.