Carlos Alcaraz’s eagerly anticipated ATP Finals 2024 debut has finally come. He played Casper Ruud in his first group stage match, but he lost to Ruud. The Spaniard lost 1-6, 5-7 to the Norwegian after a really poor match.
Alcaraz’s second match will be against the winner of the bout between Andrey Rublev and Alexander Zverev. Carlitos must win the two group stage matches that remain, and he must do it with vigor, after losing in straight sets in his debut.
Alcaraz began the first set by breaking the opening serve of the match with two break balls. Ruud, however, saved the game by reversing the Spaniard’s two chances. The Norwegian went up to 1-4 after confirming the break, saving another three break chances, but Carlitos squandered that chance and took the opening break of the match with 1-2 on the scoreboard.
Carlos Alcaraz had up to five break balls up until that point, but he didn’t use any of them. As the Spaniard sustained a fresh break that effectively sentenced the first set, the repercussions would keep coming. Casper Ruud sealed it with a score of 1-5 and a serve.
After the first set’s catastrophe, Carlos Alcaraz had to start again in the second set. Carlitos’s ability to begin holding serve was encouraging. The crucial point for Alcaraz came at 3-2 after they had shared the next few games on serve.
The Spaniard took a 4-2 lead on his first break chance at 30-40 after receiving his first break of the match on Casper Ruud’s serve. After confirming the break, Alcaraz moved ahead 5-2 and nearly tied the match.
Alcaraz, however, took a really hard break while serving to win the second set, leaving the score at 5-4. After making it 5-5 in a flash, Ruud broke again to take a 5-6 lead and won the match by taking advantage of his opponent’s collapse. As it turned out, the Norwegian surprised everyone by defeating Carlos Alcaraz in two sets in the opening match of the 2024 ATP Finals.