As the victor of the Green Group, Casper Ruud maintained his incredible season by defeating Taylor Fritz to guarantee his qualification for the Nitto ATP Finals semifinals.
Follow Us
Rafael Nadal had a chance to atone for his opening round-robin loss in Turin on Tuesday. When it came to an end, he was the first player eliminated at the ATP Finals, which made Carlos Alcaraz the youngest year-end No. 1 in ATP history. Casper Ruud, who Alcaraz defeated in the US Open final, put a bow on the 19-year-outstanding old’s accomplishment. Ruud defeated Taylor Fritz in a first-time encounter, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (6), using 14 aces to advance back to the semifinals after making it there on his debut last year.
“It ranks among the top serving games and serve performances I’ve ever had. I did fairly well at serving in this competition the year before “Ruud commented in the press thereafter. “No matter what happens in the next game, I will play on Saturday, so I plan to go to bed tonight and have a good night’s sleep. Of course, I can give it my all, but I can also play more relaxed knowing that I can still play on Saturday. This is an awesome sensation.”
This week has been a welcome change of pace for Ruud. He had a 2-4 run going into the year-end championships, with his best victory coming at the Paris Masters over Richard Gasquet, who was ranked 76th. But by doubling his Top 10 win total for 2022, he has turned the tide. At the Pala Alpitour, Ruud’s first three sets were without a break point. Ruud’s forehand hit the net to close a lengthy rally, but Fritz, who had squandered three break points early in the second set, broke the Norwegian to tie the match. The two engaged in a fierce struggle until the very end to force a tiebreak, where Fritz overcame a 2-5 disadvantage and a match point to tie.
Fritz observed, “He was obviously taking more of a chance on his second serve, which I felt was part of his game plan. He knew he would likely double-fault a little more frequently than usual since he didn’t want me to intervene and assault a second serve. Alcaraz is the 18th player in ATP history to win the year-end No. 1 ranking, thanks to Fritz’s withdrawal allowing him to advance as the next-highest finisher in the race to Turin. The only other player to achieve the coveted feat since 2004 who is not one of the Big Three—Nadal, Djokovic, and Federer—is Andy Murray, who defeated Djokovic in a winner-take-all title match at the 2016 ATP Finals. Twitter was abuzz with fan reactions and in this article, we take a look at some of the best ones.
Read More – ATP Finals 2022: Casper Ruud defeated Taylor Fritz in 3 set match
Lets have a look at some of the twitter reactions during and after the game concluded.
