Holder of a record 22 Grand Slam titles, Nadal has never won the Tournament of Champions. This year in Turin he missed the opportunity to change after only two games. Spain’s first seed wasn’t enough for Taylor Fritz or Félix Auger-Aliassime. A season in which he won the Australian Open, Roland Garros and two other tournaments, but Nadal finished with success.
“It’s a nice end to a tournament that didn’t go well for me. It’s definitely better to start with a win than a loss,” the 36-year-old tennis player said in a televised interview. He helped himself to 16 aces and saved both break points to win over a certain group winner Ruud.
The Canadian Auger-Aliassime and the American Fritz will compete for the second place promotion of the green group from 21:00. The winner will face the Serbian Novak Djokovic, five times champion of the Tournament of Champions, in the semifinals.
| Tennis Tournament of Champions in Turin (hard court, $14.75 million endowment): |
|---|
| Singles – Green Group: |
| Nadal (1-Sp.) – Ruud (3-Nor.) 7:5, 7:5, |
| 21:00 Auger-Aliassime (5-Can.) – Fritz (8-USA). |
| Table: | ||||||
| 1. | Ruud | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4:3 | 2 |
| 2. | Fritz | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3:2 | 1 |
| 3. | Auger-Also | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2:2 | 1 |
| 4. | Nadal | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2:4 | 1 |
| Double – Red Group: |
| Heliövaara, Glasspool (6-Fin./Brit.) – Granollers, Zeballos (7-Šp./Arg.) 6:0, 6:4, |
| 18:30 Ram, Salisbury (2-USA/Brit.) – Rojer, Arévalo (3-Niz./Salv.). |
| Table: | ||||||
| 1. | Ram, Salisbury | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4:1 | 2 |
| 2. | Noise risk, Glasspool | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4:2 | 2 |
| 3. | Rojer, Arevalo | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2:3 | 1 |
| 4. | Granollers, Zeballos | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2:6 | 0 |
