ATP Finals: Carlos Alcaraz Defeats Andrey Rublev to get first win at the finals 

Carlos Alcaraz defeated Andrey Rublev 7-5, 6-2 on Wednesday to secure his first victory at the esteemed year-end tournament, preserving his hopes of making it to the semifinals of the Nitto ATP Finals.

After losing to Alexander Zverev in his Red Group debut, the 20-year-old recovered with a strong performance against Rublev. After a string of damaging baseline exchanges, the Spaniard outlasted the fifth seed and redlined the ball to improve to 10-5 against Top 10 opponents in 2023.

Alcaraz ended a three-match losing streak with his 74-minute victory. In Shanghai, Zverev in Turin, and Roman Safiullin in Paris, the World No. 2 was defeated. Now for the season, he is 64-11..

“It was a totally different match and level from me. This is the level I have to play if I want to give myself a chance in this amazing tournament,” Alcaraz said. “Yesterday was a good day for me in practise to find the level I needed to show today and I think I did pretty well. I am very happy with my level.”

Carlos Alcaraz won 94% of first serve points, hit 21 winners (never faced break point) while converting three of six break points enroute to his maiden victory at the finals.

“I need to relax. It is really, really fast the court,” Alcaraz said. “I need to hit first. You need to be more aggressive than your opponent. I think that is key if you want to have chances in this tournament.”

The 2022 US open champion, who is the youngest player in the eight-man singles field, is making his debut at the Nitto ATP Finals after missing last year’s edition due to injury. He is chasing his seventh trophy of the season and first since Wimbledon and will meet Daniil Medvedev in his final round-robin match on Friday.