The boss. World No.2 Alexander Zverev scored his second ATP Masters victory in two matches by defeating Norway’s Casper Ruud (ranked 7th) 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 on Wednesday in Turin.

If the German, recent winner of the Paris Masters 1000, wins a set against Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz in his final group match on Friday, he will book his place in the last four, regardless of the outcome of his match against the world No.3.

Ruud, who beat Alcaraz 6-1, 7-5 in his opening match, can also continue his progress if he beats No.8 Andrey Rublev of Russia on Friday, outclassed on Wednesday by Alcaraz 6-3, 7-6 (10/8)and the Spaniard’s defeat.

For their reunion after their semi-final at Roland Garros, won by Zverev in four sets, the German and the Norwegian managed a near-perfect first set on serve, without a break point. In the tie-break, despite having been solid on his serve up to that point, Ruud broke and let Zverev take the lead to 6-1. The German won the set with a forehand winner after 50 minutes of play.

It wasn’t until the eighth game of the second set that Zverev had his first break point, an opportunity the world No.2 didn’t let slip through his fingers to lead 5-3. He then put Ruud out of his misery with a shutout on his serve.

“It was a very close match, it didn’t come down to much, just one or two points. I think I played better than in my first match.“remarked Zverev.