Two-time former champion Alexander Zverev, the world number two, underlined his superb late-season form by beating Norway’s Casper Ruud 7-6(3), 6-3 for his second victory of the week at the ATP Finals on Wednesday.
Should Germany’s Zverev beat Alcaraz to win the group and Rublev defeats Ruud, three players would end up with one victory meaning sets and games would come into play to separate them.
The way Zverev is playing he will take some stopping. He was pushed hard by Ruud but turned up the heat in the first-set tiebreak, banging down a couple of aces to consolidate a mini-break on the way to taking the opener.
Ruud, who reached the final in 2022, could hardly have served any better, missing only nine first serves all match.
READ | ATP Finals: Alcaraz beats Rublev to boost chances of reaching semifinals
But a couple of errors when he served at 3-4 in the second set proved costly as Zverev got the decisive break.
Zverev then finished it off to chalk up his Tour-leading 68th match win of the year.
“I’m hitting my spots well (on serve) and the speed is maybe a bit up on last week,” Zverev told Sky Sports.
“Today’s match was better than the first match from the baseline.”
The 27-year-old Zverev will now set his sights on Alcaraz, to whom he lost in the French Open final this year, although he did beat him at the Australian Open.
“We’ve played some very tough battles in Grand Slams this year, so I’m expecting a tough match. I’m looking forward to it and hopefully it will be fun to watch.”
The Ilie Nastase group will be decided on Thursday with home favourite and world number one Jannik Sinner up against Daniil Medvedev and American Taylor Fritz against Alex De Minaur.
All four players are still in contention for the semis.
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