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TURIN, Italy (AP) — Third-seeded Casper Ruud eased to a straight-set victory over Felix Auger-Aliassime in the opening match of the ATP Finals on Sunday.
The match was largely dominated by serving and a solitary break in the seventh game of the second set proved enough for the Norwegian player to secure a 7-6 (4), 6-4 win over the fifth-seeded Auger-Aliassime of Canada.
Ruud, who lost in the semifinals last year, and tournament debutant Auger-Aliassime will also face top-seeded Rafael Nadal and Taylor Fritz of the United States in the Green Group. Nadfal and Fritz were playing each other later Sunday.
“I think this is some of the best level that I have played since the U.S. Open,” said Ruud, who lost the final at Flushing Meadows to Carlos Alcaraz. “The last couple of months have been a little bit of a struggle, I have to honestly say that, but you have to accept it as well.
“You will face difficult moments in your career, and maybe these last couple of months was one of those … It doesn’t matter how hard you practise if you don’t win matches, so today was a great win for me.”
Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev complete the lineup in Turin.
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