ATP Finals: Carlos Alcaraz loses against Alexander Zverev and must wait for a miracle from Rublev

The last match of the group stage of the ATP Finals 2024 pitted Carlos Alcaraz against Alexander Zverev. The Spaniard had to beat the German to have a better chance of advancing to the semifinals, although with any result he would have to wait for the outcome of tonight's match between Casper Ruud and Andrey Rublev.

Of all the possible results, the worst one has been the worst. Zverev has beaten Alcaraz in two sets: 7-6, 6-4, and now Carlitos will have to wait for Rublev to also defeat Ruud in 2 sets, and hope that the tiebreaker of games won/lost in total is in his favor between him, the Russian and the Norwegian.

In the first set, things started very complicated for Alcaraz. The Spaniard faced 3 break balls with 2-1 for Zverev. Even so, Carlitos turned them all around, and was able to make it 2-2. Despite his difficult start, Alcaraz was feeling better and better as the set progressed.

With 5-4 against, he got a game in white to enter the decisive phase of the set at 5-5. Everything pointed to the tie break, and although Zverev had a set ball on Alcaraz's serve at 6-5, Carlitos forced the tie break.

However, in the tie break the German was to prove far superior to the Spaniard. With 3-2 in his favor, Zverev gave him two mini breaks that left him 5-2 and serving. Despite Carlitos' comeback attempt, Zverev took the tie break by 7-5, which gave him the pass to the semifinals regardless of what happened in the rest of the match.

In the second set, things got even more difficult for Carlitos. In the first game he already suffered a break that Zverev confirmed to take a 2-0 lead. With 3-2 in favor of the German, Alcaraz had two break balls to tie the set. However, Zverev saved both to go 4-2 up;

Carlitos stayed in the match by winning his serve to cut it to 4-3. An empty set left Alexander Zverev 5-3, very close to victory. Although Alcaraz won one more game, the German closed the match and the win by 6-4 in the second set.