- At the ATP Finals in Turin, Casper Ruud (ATP 4) advances to the semi-finals early with a 6: 3, 4: 6, 7: 6 (8: 6) over Taylor Fritz (ATP 9).
- After the Norwegian had won his first set, Rafael Nadal was out of the game.
- On Tuesday afternoon, Félix Auger-Aliassime won against the Spaniard in two sets 6: 3, 6: 4 and thus created the starting point for his early elimination.
For Rafael Nadal, the last hopes vanished after just 31 minutes of play in the evening game between Casper Ruud (ATP 4) and Taylor Fritz (ATP 9). Then the Norwegian used his second set ball and went in front in a duel with the American. The 36-year-old Nadal can no longer advance to second place in the final group game.
Ruud, on the other hand, was able to celebrate the early semi-final qualification at the end of the evening, even if he had to take a detour against Fritz to do so. After winning the first round, the number 4 in the world suddenly could no longer rely on his own serve and thus provided the start-up help for Fritz’ return. He saved his break for the set ball to make it 1-1.
In the third round there were no further service breakthroughs, so that the tie-break had to decide. Here the Scandinavian got the upper hand and sealed his progress with a 6:3, 4:6, 7:6 (8:6) after 2:11 hours.
Nadal misses return to tennis throne
Nadal started well against Félix Auger-Aliassime in the afternoon, but couldn’t take advantage of any of his four break chances in the first set. The efficient Canadian, who managed a service breakthrough in both rounds, was quite different. After almost two hours, the Swiss Indoors winner made the victory perfect and kept his chance of progressing. In the second set, Auger-Aliassime fielded an impressive 83 percent of the first serves.
Nadal’s early departure gives another Spaniard a sigh of relief: Carlos Alcaraz. The 19-year-old, who is missing in Piedmont with an abdominal muscle injury, will end the year as number one. The US Open winner is the youngest world number one at the end of the year; he replaces the Australian Lleyton Hewitt. Nadal could only have prevented this record with a premiere win at the end of the year tournament.
