Alcaraz and Rublev split their two previous meetings coming into their Wednesday encounter, with Rublev rallying from a set down to shock the Spaniard on his home court at the Mutua Madrid Open in May. Though Rublev went onto win the title at the Caja Magica, much of the 2024 season has been one to forget for the former world No. 5, who lost before the quarterfinals at three of the four Grand Slam tournaments and suffered a default for unsportsmanlike conduct at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in February.
Alcaraz, by contrast, has enjoyed much higher highs despite trailing Zverev and world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the ATP rankings, winning back-to-back major titles at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, and earning his first Olympic medal in Paris (silver, l. Novak Djokovic). Since winning a third-set tiebreaker over Sinner to win the China Open title in October, Alcaraz has been decidedly below his best at subsequent Masters 1000 outings, losing in the quarterfinals and Round of 16 in Shanghai and Paris, respectively.And now, illness threatened to derail his ATP Finals campaign when he looked visibly out of sorts against Ruud, winning just one game in the opening set.
“In the last match, I couldn’t hit any good drop shots, and I was thinking, ‘What’s going on?’ My style and my game is about playing this kinds of shots that help me enjoy the game,” Alcaraz said.
But the 21-year-old soldiered on and found his rhythm early against Rublev, holding serve and pressuring Rublev on return. Rublev, who lost his first match to Zverev in straight sets on Monday, blinked in the seventh game, and Alcaraz rode the momentum to a second break that clinched the opening set.
