After an unpromising start, Carlos Alcaraz is returning to his best at the ATP Finals just in time to renew his rivalry with Novak Djokovic.
Four days after Alexander Zverev consigned him to a third straight defeat, his poorest run of form since March 2021, Alcaraz produced his finest performance of the week in Turin to claim a 6-4, 6-4 win over Daniil Medvedev and clinch top spot in Red Group. The victory, which completes a turnaround that began against Andrey Rublev on Wednesday night, means the Spaniard will face Djokovic, the Green Group runner-up, in the fifth instalment of what has already become a titanic rivalry.
Having gained a measure of payback for his semi-final defeat to Medvedev at the US Open, where he was the defending champion, Alcaraz will now try to avenge his gut-wrenching loss to Djokovic in August’s Cincinnati Open final, where he held a match point before the Serb prevailed in a final-set tiebreak after almost four hours. That defeat was his second in three matches this summer against the 24-time grand slam champion, who prevailed in four sets at the French Open, where Alcaraz was overwhelmed by the magnitude of the occasion, before the Spaniard won a Wimbledon final for the ages the following month.
“I’m stronger mentally right now, comparing to Paris,” said Alcaraz. “I’ve spoken about dealing with the pressure, dealing with tough, tough moments. In Paris, I didn’t deal with the pressure. I learned about that situation. Then came Wimbledon, came Cincinnati. It was a really, really good match.
“I think facing someone like Novak, you have to stay strong mentally and deal with the pressure that he puts on you in every ball, in every point. I think I learned a lot about that. I think I’m ready to face him tomorrow.”
Earlier in the week, Medvedev mischievously suggested that Alcaraz has lately been playing “a little bit slower” and without “the same confidence he had throughout the year”. It was a fair comment, yet it will hardly have dampened Alcaraz’s motivation, and it was a very different player who took to the court against the Russian on Friday.
Alcaraz, who is making his debut at the season-ending showpiece, went about his business with relish from the outset. Having fended off the only two break points he would face all afternoon in the third game, the 20-year-old fashioned a breakthrough of his own in the seventh with some typically bold play. A spectacular running forehand winner set the tone, before a sumptuous backhand return, taken on the rise and fired down the line, confirmed a love break. With the Spaniard untouchable on his own delivery, a double-fault on break point in the ninth game of the second set sealed Medvedev’s fate.
“In important moments, I was not good enough and he was a little bit better than me,” said Medvedev, who advances in second place and will face Jannik Sinner in the first of Saturday’s semi-finals.
“He played one unreal game in first set on my serve. Second set, I played a bad game on my serve. Honestly, tough to say much.”
In the final group match, Zverev ran out a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Rublev.