Nitto ATP masters: Alcaraz goes down to Zverev , Medvedev won 1st match

 

Carlos Alcaraz continues his hard times of last couple of months . After winning the Wimbledon, Alcaraz 's has had struggles in subsequent tournaments, lost in US Open semis and  earlier this month in Paris masters when he exited in early rounds .

In the Nitto ATP masters, Alcaraz  went down in 3 sets in his first match against Alexander Zverev who shruggled off a close 1st set loss to win the next two sets in style .

In the first set , the contest was very tight till Alcaraz got into his gear at the crucial moments to force the set to a tiebreaker and winning it 7-3 .

It was expected that Alcaraz will be more confident & formidable in the second set but Zverev raised his level and served brilliantly while hitting some glorious returns on a fast paced court to rattle the Spanish prodigy . Zverev won 3 back to back games to set up the 2nd set win and maintained the momentum against the increasingly struggling Alcaraz in the decider . 

Lethal serves and imperious returns flowed from Zverev as Alcaraz found it difficult to bounce back and finally losing out to 3 scorching serves as Zverev sealed the match 6-7 , 6-3 , 6-4 .

In the second match of the day Daniiil Medvedev made it too one sided beating Andrey Rublev 6-4 , 6-2 to pick up points in his first match .

Earlier Novak Djokovic was awarded the big trophy after confirming his number one ranking for the end of the year 2023 .

Winning Grand Slams and being number one in the world are probably the pinnacles of the sport," said Djokovic on court.

"It's been a very long year for all the players and to be able to stand here is a blessing." Djokovic added