Carlos Alcaraz settled with a new clear defeat, 6-1 and 6-4 against the Norwegian Casper Ruud, his time at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship exhibition tournament, in Abu Dhabi, which he arrived with the sole objective of rolling and getting to point after the injury in the abdominal area that he suffered in the Masters 1,000 in Paris in November.
The world number one, facing number three for the honorary third place in the tournament, was unable to hold serve throughout the first set. He broke Ruud's once, but the 6-1 fell in 26 minutes of play.
Without physically forcing himself at any time, Alcaraz gained pace in the second set, awarded his services comfortably and had several break balls. But he did not specify them and, after the 4-4, the Norwegian added a new 'break' and confirmed with a clean game. The victory was consummated in one hour and eight minutes.
In the semifinals of the tournament, the player from Murcia had lost to the Russian Andrey Rublev 6-2, 6-1, in his first match in a month and a half. The Abu Dhabi final will also be played this Sunday by Rublev and the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Alcaraz will continue his preparation in another exhibition tournament, between January 10 and 12 in Melbourne, where four days later the first Grand Slam of 2023 will begin, the Australian Open.
In addition, this week their participation in the Open Banc Sabadell-Trofeo Conde de Godó was confirmed. The Murcian will defend the title won in the last edition after a historic year for the young tennis player, who after winning the US Open became number 1 in the world.
