Rafael Nadal stems slide, takes Ruud down

TURIN, November 17

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Rafa Nadal may be heading home but he made sure he avoided matching his worst ever losing sequence with a 7-5 7-5 victory over Norway’s Casper Ruud at the ATP Finals here today.

Back-to-back straight-set defeats in the Green Group by Taylor Fritz and Felix Auger-Aliassime meant the 22-time Grand slam champion missed out on the semifinals.

But the Spaniard was clearly eager not to end a season that began in such spectacular fashion by succumbing to a fifth successive defeat — something the 36-year-old had not experienced since before his career took off in 2004-05.

“I’ve been practising well but just not had enough matches to be at the level I need to be, not enough confidence after six tough months,” Nadal said. “At least I finished with a positive victory which is important.”

On Wednesday, Stefanos Tsitsipas squandered three match points in the second set but managed to beat beat Daniil Medvedev 6-3 6-7(11) 7-6(1). — Reuters