Alcaraz leapfrogs to second in ATP Race To Turin after Miami title triumph

Miami, April 5 (IANS) Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaraz’s title triumph at the Miami Open — an ATP 1000 event — has seen the 18-year old move up five spots to second in the ATP Race To Turin.

The ATP Race To Turin determines which eight players and doubles teams make it to the elite Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, which is tennis’ grand finale. The Nitto ATP Finals this year will be held from November 13-20.

After last year’s Miami Open, Alcaraz was 110th in the Race. But the Miami champion already has 1,950 points, thanks to his title on Monday (IST) along with an ATP 500 trophy at the Rio Open and a semifinal run at the BNP Paribas Open among other impressive results. He is 18-2 on the season and pursuing his first berth into the season finale in Turin.

Spanish stalwart and winner of 21 Grand Slams, Rafael Nadal, is currently leading the ATP Race To Turin with 3,350 points. The 35-year-old Nadal enjoyed the best start to a season of his career by winning his first 20 matches, which also included the Australian Open. Nadal has a 1,400-point lead over Alcaraz leading into the clay-court season.

American Taylor Fritz, who ended Nadal’s perfect start to 2022, is fourth in the Race with 1,520 points after winning his first Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells. Like Alcaraz, the American is also trying to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time.

Russian tennis player and the current world No.2 Daniil Medvedev, who is recovering from a surgery on a hernia injury, is No.3 on the Race to Turin with 1,900 points.

The fifth-to-eighth spots in the Race currently belong to 2019 Nitto ATP Finals champion Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece (1,440), Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada (1,420), Andrey Rublev of Russia (1,390) and Casper Ruud of Norway (1,020).

The top two Italians in the Race are ninth-placed Matteo Berrettini (945) and Jannik Sinner (800). – IANS