Alexander Zverev maintained his red-hot late-season form at the ATP Finals as the German defeated Kasper Rudd 7-6(3), 6-3 to record his second win of the week in the season finale.
Although Rudd looked full of confidence after upsetting Carlos Alcaraz in their opening match, Zverev took the Norwegian by storm with an 86-minute performance at the Inalpi Arena.
With his tour-leading 68 wins in 2024, Zverev improved to 2-0 in the John Newcombe Group. The Rome and Paris champions take on Alcarez in their final group match on Friday, as they bid to seal their semi-final spot.
Zverev is chasing his third ATP Finals title, having previously won the trophy in London in 2018 and Turin in 2021.
Zverev and Rudd were evenly matched in an enthralling opening set, with no break points but high-quality rallies. It was the second-seeded German, however, who overcame the count, dominating the tie-break 6-1 and eventually securing the set.
The second set unfolded in similar fashion, with Rudd battling hard against Zverev’s towering serve and crisp groundstrokes. As the match headed for another tie-break, Zverev broke with a rare dive on Rudd’s serve for a vital 5-3 lead. From that point on, Zverev made no mistake, comfortably sealing his second win of the week after his first over Andrey Rublev on Monday.
Zverev arrives in Turin with the most ATP Finals experience of the eight singles players. The 27-year-old is making his seventh appearance at the event, and has an overall 16-9 win/loss record, according to the ATP.