Nitto ATP Finals News: Andrey Rublev hangs tough but Carlos Alcaraz gets the victory

Andrey Rublev has one way of playing: All-out power. The issue is that his lack of touch can give him issues against a player capable of smashing balls back Rublev's way. If the Russian cannot overpower another player, he is going to struggle. Carlos Alcaraz can match Rublev's power and plays with exquisite touch.

And yet, the head-to-head between the players was one-all entering their round-robin match at the Nitto ATP Finals on Wednesday. Rublev even had the more recent victory on clay. He defeated Alcaraz in three sets at the 2024 Madrid Open. Maybe Rublev had the confidence needed to beat the 21-year-old Alcaraz.

Part of the problem the Russian has had at the ATP Finals so far is that while his serve has held up decently well, and his forehand is not giving him too many issues, he isn't able to get himself in a position to break another player's serve. The same happened against Alcaraz on Wednesday when the Spaniard got the first set break to win the set 6-3, and Rublev could never get to a break-point against Alcaraz.

Carlos Alcaraz gives himself a chance to make Nitto ATP Finals semifinals with a victory over Andrey Rublev

In the second set, Rublev began to dominate during his own service games, with Alcaraz barely able to win a point. The Russian had three love holds to get the set to 5-all. Rublev was playing well enough to beat most players on the tour, but Alcaraz is not most players.

The Spaniard did lose his first match in the round-robin stage against Casper Ruud on Monday. He was clearly not feeling well, but Ruud played exceptional tennis and deserved the victory. However, one could safely assume Alcaraz would play better as the tournament went on. A loss by either him or Rublev would have likely ended any chance of the player moving on to the semifinals.

Alcaraz kept the pressure on Rublev the entire match, however. He was not in danger of losing a game on his serve. He played a cleaner match with more winners than unforced errors while Rublev had more unforced errors, and yet Rublev was still able to get the second set to a tie-break. Both players got mini-breaks but had issues with the other's serve. In the end, Alcaraz won 6-3 7-6(8).

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