Zverev remains with one foot in San Francisco | Nitto ATP Final

The strongest player at Nitto ATP Finals 2024 is Alexander Zverev. So far, the German has won his two fights in Turin with maximum authority: in straight sets and without any break points on serve. First he went up against Andrey Rublev and now against Casper Ruud to keep one foot in the semi-finals.

Although they are not mathematically classified, it will be very difficult to prevent them from passing the group stage. Especially considering his incredible level, which helped him beat Ruud this Wednesday 7-6(3), 6-3 in one hour and 26 minutes.

His serve was so difficult that only one serve reached 40/40, the second in a match in which, despite some ties, he hit four winners, including an ace. From then on, he didn’t have the slightest worry on serve, with which he connected with eleven aces (hardly a double fault) and 87% of the points earned first (41 out of 47).

The number 2 in the PIF ATP rankings played 21 serves this week and won them all without facing a break point. He was also 100% effective in scoring points against everyone else this week, two out of two against Rublev and one out of one against Ruud, whom he broke 4-3 in the 2nd set. The merit, in any case, is enough to now add 68 wins in a season, the maximum for any player in 2024.

His new record is 16-9 at the Nitto ATP Finals, an event he is competing in for the seventh time. “That means I’m old,” Zverev joked about his years of experience in the competition, which he won twice. “But I don’t feel old yet. I hope I have another 10 years ahead of me, but I think there is a group of young people. There have been some changes in tennis this year and I think it’s good that they are already new and interesting players. “Everyone likes to see them.”

On Friday he will have to prove his level against one of those players, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, whom he beat in this tournament a year ago before bowing out in the group stage. Ruud, for his part, needs to defeat Rublev so as not to depend on anyone.

“It was a good game. I think we both played good tennis,” Zverev said. “I’m happy about the victory. It was probably even better than my first match, although the first one wasn’t bad either. “I’m looking forward to seeing Carlos on Friday and hopefully there will be more games to come this weekend.”