Carlos Alcaraz lived in a new clear defeat, 6-1 and 6-4 Norwegian is new Casper Ruudhis passing abu dhabi exhibition contestthat he came with the sole purpose of shooting and preparing after the stomach injury he suffered at the Masters 1,000 in Paris last November.
The world number one, facing the number three for honorary third place in the tournament, did not hold serve throughout the first set. He broke Ruud’s once, but fell 6-1 in 26 minutes of play.
Without pushing himself physically at any point, Alcaraz picked up the pace in the second set, held his serves comfortably and had several break points. But he did not define them and, after 4-4, the Norwegian added a new ‘break’ and confirmed a clean game. The victory was completed in one hour and eight minutes.
In the semifinals of the tournament, the player from Murcia lost to Russian Andrey Rublev 6-2, 6-1, in his first match in a month and a half.
The Abu Dhabi final will also be played this Sunday between Rublev and the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Alcaraz will continue his preparations with another exhibition tournament, between January 10 and 12 in Melbourne, where four days later the first Grand Slam of 2023, the Australian Open, will begin.
Source: La Verdad
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