World number three Alcaraz, who won the French Open and Wimbledon titles earlier this year, made 34 unforced errors in an uncharacteristically errant display. It was Ruud’s first victory over Alcaraz in their five career meetings.
“I had two good times in Turin before... This part of the season has not been good for me but hopefully I’ve saved some wins for this week and I’ve started well,” said 2022 runner-up Ruud, who had suffered seven defeats in eight matches before this tournament.
Ruud will head into his second match in the John Newcombe group against Andrey Rublev tomorrow already well-placed to reach the semi-finals for the third time in as many appearances at the year-end event.
Alcaraz could be eliminated if he loses to second-ranked Alexander Zverev, who faces Rublev in his opener later.
Third seed Alcaraz quickly slipped 4-1 down, giving up his serve in the fourth game before seeing three break points come and go in the next.
Ruud stretched a double-break in front as Alcaraz fired a loose forehand wide and wrapped up the opening set in just 36 minutes with a hold to love. The four-time Grand Slam champion improved early in the second set, though, bringing up his sixth break point of the match with a trademark forehand winner. He took the opportunity with a delicate volley and then moved into a 5-2 lead with a clinical hold.
But Ruud dug deep to force Alcaraz to serve for the set before breaking back en route to levelling the set. The errors suddenly started to flow again from Alcaraz’s racquet and a wild forehand followed by an excellent Ruud return gave the sixth seed the chance to serve for the match. Ruud closed it out in style on his third match point with an ace, completing a run of five straight games.
Jannik Sinner got his bid for a first ATP Finals title underway with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Alex de Minaur on Sunday. Italian Sinner delighted supporters in Turin with a comfortable win over Finals debutant De Minaur to move first in the Ilie Nastase Group. The world number one, who hadn’t played since winning the Shanghai Masters last month, only had one brief scare when his serve was broken early in the first set.
But he quickly recovered to rattle off four straight games and take the opening set to 5-2 before closing it out with his first set point.
Sinner closed out a routine victory in emphatic fashion with a perfect service game and basked in the applause of his home fans after smashing an ace to finish in style.
“It’s a great start for my side for this event, for this tournament, considering I haven’t played for four weeks an official match. I’m glad that I managed to play this kind of level today,” Sinner told reporters.
“I had in the beginning some moments, which is normal, and then I found myself on the court... I’m very, very happy.”
Sinner, who lost last year’s final to Novak Djokovic, tops the world rankings after a stunning season in which he claimed the Australian and US Opens – his first Grand Slam victories – and won five more ATP titles.
However, he has been dogged by controversy after twice testing positive for traces of the steroid clostebol in March. He was initially cleared by the International Tennis Integrity Agency but at the end of September the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed, seeking a ban of up to two years.
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