Alcaraz Uses His Drop Shot To Overcome Physical Issues, Moves Back Into Contention At ATP Finals

Carlos Alcaraz h his drop shot ing and it helped him overcome physical issues to claim a 6-3, 7-6 (8) victory over Andrey Rublev at ATP Finals on Wednesday.

win put Alcaraz back into contention for a spot in semifinals of year-ending tournament for top eight players, after he was beaten by Casper Ruud in straight sets in his opener.

Alcaraz said after Ruud match on Monday that he hn’t been feeling well and was “uncomfortable in stomach.” Spaniard n cut short a practice session on Tuesday. Against Rublev, he wore a pink nose strip.

“I just tried to be focused on my game, on what I have to do, and forget about that I’m not feeling well, I’m sick and all that stuff,” Alcaraz said.

Alcaraz produced several drop-shot winners, and on occasions when Rublev did run down short balls, Spaniard hit a winner into open court on his next shot.

Late in second set, Alcaraz even produced a drop-shot approach volley winner. In second set tiebreaker, he saved two set points.

“I felt like last month I couldn’t hit good drops,” said Alcaraz, who dropped behind Alexander Zverev to No. 3 in rankings this week. “And I was thinking, ‘What’s going on?’ You know, my style, my game is about playing se kind of shots ... so I tried to do it today.”In all, Alcaraz produced more than twice as many winners as Rublev, 31-14.

Later, Zverev will face Ruud in same group.

top two finishers in each round-robin group vance to semifinals.

Alcaraz is now 1-1, while Rublev dropped to 0-2 after getting beaten by Zverev in his opener.

Top-ranked Jannik Sinner les or group ahe of Taylor Fritz, Daniil Medvedev and Alex de Minaur.

Alcaraz plays Zverev in his final group match and Rublev plays Ruud.