Carlos Alcaraz often gets stuck at the end of the season. Beaten by Ugo Humbert in the last 8 of the Rolex Paris Masters, the four-time Grand Slam winner was stunned from the start by Casper Ruud in Turin on Monday afternoon. After a nightmarish first set, in which he was swept aside 6-1 in 35 minutes, the French Open winner rallied to lead 5-2 in the next set and serve to level at one set apiece. Ruud, however, took advantage of the prodigy’s lack of inspiration and feeling to string together no less than five consecutive games and win on his third match point. Ruud, generally more at ease on clay, scored his first victory over Alcaraz in five matches. “I tried to give my best from the first to the last point, he’s such a fantastic player, I’m happy to have finally beaten him.”Ruud, a finalist in the 2021 event, was delighted.

Reaction is expected in two days’ time for the 21-year-old champion, a semi-finalist last year but unrecognizable this Monday. Author of 33 unforced errors (24 winners), compared with just 16 for Ruud, Alcaraz has admittedly been suffering from a bad cold since arriving in Italy. Alcaraz’s surprise defeat calls into question the expected scenario. That of an Alcaraz – Zverev duel for top spot in the group.