Olympic champion Alexander Zverev caused a surprise at the start of the ATP Finals in Turin.
Alexander Zverev spread his arms and waved to the Turin audience: The Olympic champion disenchanted Carlos Alcaraz at the start of the ATP Finals.
The 26-year-old from Hamburg defeated the second-seeded Wimbledon winner from Spain 6:7 (3:7), 6:3, 6:4 and decisively opened the door to the semi-finals.
“I’m happy to be back here. I missed it a lot last year”said Zverev after his surprising success. Zverev had to sit out injured in 2022. “I knew I had to serve well today. I managed to do that. I’m happy to have my first win under my belt”said Zverev, who hit 16 aces.
Strong serve as a base
The tournament winner from 2018 and 2021, who beat Alcaraz with brutal service and a better balance of risk and safety, will face the Russians Daniil Medvedev and Andrej Rublew in the group phase. The top two make it to the semi-finals.
Medvedev, third in the world rankings, won his opening game against Rublew 6:4, 6:2 on Monday evening and made a very strong impression at times.
“I hope that it will be a long tournament for me,” said Zverev after the game, but he also wanted to remain cautious: “With Medvedev and Rublew, I still have two very serious opponents in front of me. I have to stay absolutely focused, to be able to move forward.”
Zverev started the prestigious annual results as a clear outsider. Participation in itself can be seen as a success in the comeback year after the serious foot injury.
“Just enjoy it”
“I just enjoy being among the eight best players in the world and being able to compete with them”he had said before the start in the Pala Alpitour, knowing that the tournament suits him – hard court, indoors without external wind influences, two sets.
He also proved this against Alcaraz, who had clearly shown the German top player’s limits twice this season. Both in the round of 16 of the Masters of Madrid and in the quarter-finals of the US Open The current world number seven from Germany did not win a set.
Alcaraz with unusual weaknesses
In Turin, however, Zverev created his chances right from the start with a strong serve and an initially lower error rate than Alcaraz – but then missed four break points when the score was 3:3. Then the Spaniard, who had been a bit weak in recent months, was suddenly there and showed his class.
At the beginning of the second round, Alcaraz lost his sovereignty again, made simple mistakes and Zverev quickly moved ahead to 3-0. With three aces in one game he finally sealed the set win.
Fall creates a moment of shock
In the third set, Zverev caused a shocking moment: He fell and briefly awakened memories of his injury in Paris in the spectators. “It was a pain in the ass for a while. But you can’t compare it to Paris,” said Zverev.
Ultimately, the fall should have no consequences: “I didn’t twist my ankle, I just slipped a little. I have a little pain in my Achilles tendon. But I don’t think it’s anything serious.”Zverev continued.
Zverev now has a day off on Tuesday before things get serious again on Wednesday.