TURIN: Rafael Nadal raised his level in the last match of the season and scored his first ATP Finals victory in Turin on Friday. A 22-time Major winner prevailed over a good friend Casper Ruud 7-5, 7-5 in an hour 43 minutes to wrap up the year in a winning way following four straight losses since the US Open.
Nadal lost only six games against Ruud in the Roland Garros final in June. As was expected, he had to work much harder to remain unbeaten against the Norwegian in Turin, struggling for months with an injury and losing form and confidence.
In one of the matches of the season, Stefanos Tsitsipas stepped up and delivered on Wednesday night when he clawed past Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-7(11), 7-6(1).
In the 11th chapter of their longstanding ATP Head to Head rivalry, it was Tsitsipas who prevailed in a thrilling topsy-turvy clash that swayed one way and then the other at the Pala Alpitour.
The Greek squandered three match points in the second set, before he regained his focus, rallying from 3-5 in the third set to eventually triumph after two hours and 21 minutes, improving to 4-7 in his ATP Head to Head series against Medvedev. Agencies
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