Key events
First set: Zverev 3-2 Alcaraz* (*denotes next server)
So much for Alcaraz’s cold, it’s Zverev being left in the cold here as Alcaraz picks his opponent off with the pass. 15-30 … could Alcaraz get his first break points? No, because Zverev zips through the next three points to hold.
First set: *Zverev 2-2 Alcaraz (*denotes next server)
I turn my attentions back to Turin just as Zverev swats away Alcaraz’s attempted lob to give himself three break points at 0-40, to add to the two he had in Alcaraz’s previous service game. Alcaraz again recovers to deuce, but Zverev, undeterred, gets another chance to break at his advantage. Alcaraz makes Zverev look a little slow on the latest break point, and the Spaniard then sprints to his advantage. He takes the game by changing up his tactics by coming forward to bury an angled forehand volley. That’s six break points that have come and gone for Zverev now.
Meanwhile at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, Magda Linette has finally made it past Sara Torribes Tormo after THREE HOURS AND 51 MINUTES in the first match of the Poland v Spain tie. It means Britain’s match against Germany (due to start at 4pm GMT) could be delayed.
First set: Zverev 2-1 Alcaraz* (*denotes next server)
15-0, 30-0, 40-0. Alcaraz stops the run of points with a winning forehand return, which he takes early and on the rise. That’s the level required against the German serving machine. Normal serving service then resumes as Zverev holds to 15.
First set: Zverev* 1-1 Alcaraz (*denotes next server)
Alcaraz, still wearing his pink nasal strip (hopefully not the same one as he did against Rublev otherwise it’ll be very sweaty), paired with his lavender and turquoise outfit, also takes a few points to get going on his serve. From 0-30 he gets to 15-30, but then misaims again. 15-40, two early break points. Alcaraz dismisses the danger with a 221kph ace and a heavy, unreturned second serve. Deuce. Advantage Alcaraz. Game Alcaraz, as he pulls off the first of most likely several drop shots today.
First set: Zverev 1-0 Alcaraz* (*denotes next server)
So Alcaraz chose to receive first, which looks a smart decision when Zverev quickly balloons a backhand wide. And that’s very soon 0-30. Zverev then finds his range with a snarling serve down the T that Alcaraz can’t get back. The fourth point is the pick of the game, but an absorbing rally ends with Alcaraz netting. No time to feel each other out here; the pair are at each other from the off. 30-all. 40-30. Zverev punches away a volley to get on the board first.
Prediction time. Alcaraz of course has just that bit more to his game, but Zverev’s previously fallible forehand is much improved and he’s been serving so big this week. The indoor conditions suit his game so well.
Usually I’d say Zverev would be more likely to get tight in the crunch moments than Alcaraz, who is such a big-match player – his four wins from four slam finals is proof of that. But with Alcaraz not at full fitness and Zverev in formidable form with one foot already in the semi-finals, I’m not so sure Zverev will wobble today. I give Zverev the edge.
The 6ft 6in Zverev towers over Alcaraz during the pre-match pleasantries, but Alcaraz refuses to be intimidated and wins the coin toss, electing to receive first. He then charges to the back of the court Rafa-style to begin the warm-up.
And now here the players come, first Alcaraz, then Zverev. Alcaraz gets the warmer welcome, even though he has been their hero Jannik Sinner’s greatest rival this season – and could well be for the next decade to come.
The music is pumping out. The dancers, as they have been all week, are warming the crowd up. And now a tennis ball is bouncing on the big screens to the sound of a very loud heartbeat. It’s all a far cry from Wimbledon, where Alcaraz won the second of the two slam titles he pocketed this year.
Alcaraz says of facing Zverev:
My chances of qualifying are still there, so we’re going to go all out. But [Zverev] is one of the toughest players in the world for sure.
I think I return pretty well but he has a really big serve and plays unbelievable from the baseline, which makes him a really tough opponent to face.
I don’t like to face him because of his serves and shots, but I am trying to find the beauty of playing him.
Zverev says of his ATP Finals record:
It means I’m old! But I still don’t feel old. I hope I have another solid 10 years ahead of me, but I think it’s a young group of guys. There has been kind of a shift in tennis this year and I think it’s a good thing. They’re exciting new players and everybody loves watching them.
I’m expecting a tough match [against Alcaraz], we’ve played some very tough battles in grand slams this year. I’m looking forward to it and hopefully it will be fun to watch.
Some stats. Their head-to head is tied at 5-5, with Alcaraz winning the match that mattered the most, this year’s French Open final. But Zverev did beat the Spaniard in the Australian Open quarter-finals in January and at the ATP Finals last year.
The 27-year-old Zverev, the 2018 and 2021 champion, is making his seventh appearance at the ATP Finals, the most of any competitor this year, while the 21-year-old Alcaraz is looking for his first season-ending title at only the second attempt.
The current situation behind the scenes: Alcaraz, pink nose strip again firmly in place, headphones on, is flexing his muscles while tugging at a resistance band.
The current standings in the John Newcombe group: Zverev is top, followed by Ruud, Alcaraz and then Rublev. All four are still in the mix.
And look who’s coming back:
Tim Joyce’s piece on the wise-beyond-her-years Coco Gauff is well worth a read too:
Meanwhile at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, Britain get their campaign under way later against Germany, with Emma Raducanu set to make her return from injury after nearly two months out. Our tennis correspondent Tumaini Carayol is in Malaga:
In the doubles, Britain’s Henry Patten and his Finnish partner Harri Heliovaara finished top of the Mike Bryan group yesterday with three wins from three, but Germany’s Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz have been unable to complete a perfect campaign in the Bob Bryan group, because they’ve just lost to Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden 7-5, 6-7 (6) 10-7. It makes no difference to the qualification though, with Krawietz and Puetz already through and Bopanna and Ebden, in their final tournament together after a two-year partnership, already eliminated.
Preamble
Ciao! Salve! Buongiorno! And welcome to our coverage of Carlos Alcaraz v Alex Zverev on the final day of the group stage, with Casper Ruud against Andrey Rublev to come di note.
After Jannik Sinner and Taylor Fritz booked their semi-final places yesterday, the qualification permutations today are more complex and confusing than revisiting an episode of Twin Peaks. Even Zverev, with two wins from two, is not guaranteed to advance, but he does at least know that winning one set would confirm his last-four spot – though he could still progress with a straight-sets defeat.
The two-time ATP Finals champion has been in superb touch so far. Arriving in Turin off the back of his victory at the Paris Masters and having reclaimed the world No 2 spot, he’s yet to drop a set this week, so comes into this match fresh and focused. But will the German be carrying any scar tissue from this year’s French Open final defeat by Alcaraz, when he led by two sets to one before the Spaniard ran away with it in the fourth and fifth?
Alcaraz, meanwhile, will be hoping there aren’t too many lingering effects of the illness he was struggling with in his first two matches. After being routed by Ruud in straight sets, he armed himself with antibiotics, a pot of chest rub and a nasal strip to defeat Rublev, but the Wimbledon champion knows he’ll need greater artillery to defeat an in-form Zverev this afternoon.
The match begins at about: 2pm local time/1pm GMT.
In the meantime: this should get you in the mood.
