In the second singles match of the first day of the 53rd edition of the Nitto ATP Finals, the second at the Pala Alpitour in Turin, the thirty-six-year-old Rafa Nadal against the American Taylor Fritz.
The tournament was opened by the double won by the British Lloyd Glasspool and the Finnish Harri Heliovaara, who beat Salvadoran Marcelo Arevalo and Dutch Jean-Julien Rojer 7-5 7-6 (3).
The first match of the Green Group singles saw the Norwegian Casper Ruud free in two sets of the Canadian Felix Auger Aliassime with the score of 7-6 (4), 6-4 in 1 hour and 52 minutes of play.
Ruud won against an Auger Aliassime who was not in the best conditions: he showed up on the pitch with rackets and a pack of paper tissues to wipe up the cold that he had also suggested (yesterday he had canceled a training session with Djokovic) a forfeit who would have launched into the fray the brightest star of the moment: the reserve of the Holger Rune tournament who just won Bercy in Paris by beating Djokovic in the final.
Ruud, for his part, took advantage of the concentration down that the Canadian caught during the tiebreak of the first set (lost 4-7) and in the second he limited himself to applying the technical solution that bothered the opponent most: playing balls of medium depth. but bouncing high.
Ruud could be the "surprise" of a tournament that still has, despite the passing of time, Nadal and Djokovic the brightest stars.
A curiosity: Casper Ruud trains in the Nadal academy in Spain, and the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime has added to his staff Toni Nadal, uncle and historic coach of the most titled Slam champion ever.
Here all the information on
where to see the matches