Carlos Alcaraz v Andrey Rublev - Alcaraz bounces back to secure his first ever win at the 2023 Nitto ATP World Tour Finals at The Pala Alpitour in Turin

It’s all over! Alcaraz makes no mistake as he confidently serves out to love to secure his first ever win at the Nitto ATP World Tour finals.

The Spaniard was the better player for long spells after a tight opening period in a one-hour and 14 minute contest.

The World No.2 is firmly in the hunt for a place in the last four, but Rublev’s hopes of repeating last year’s appearance in the semi finals are over.

That will surely be that for Rublev’s hopes as Carlitos reels off a succession of superb returns to emphatically break to love.

This time there are no outbursts from the Russian. Instead, he slumps his shoulders and looks like a man who believes the world is against him.

He takes his seat quietly and there are a couple of tears in his eyes.

A few yards away Alcaraz remains pensive and focused. He will serve for the match next.

That is a delicious angled, slice volley from Alcaraz to conclude a rampant and highly confident love hold. He even allows himself a slight smile -he enjoyed that final play and remains very much in the box seat here.

What a contrast. Rublev balloons a central forehand way off court for 30-30 and then watches in disbelief as Alcaraz tracks a ferocious crosscourt forehand, sliding deep into his backhand corner and somehow pulling off a pass down the line.

It secures break point and would be worthy of the assist, but it’s not to be as Rublev channels the inner hatred of himself right now in the right way to produce clutch serves and stay on contention.

The game ends with Rublev hurling his racquet to the floor once again, so you can guess what just happened.

Alcaraz doesn’t have to do anything spectacular as he plays solid to maintain his advantage with a routine game to 15.

Alcaraz falls to the floor deep in his forehand wing but still manages to reel off a crosscourt pass to leave the crowd purring.

It’s one for the show reel but the most he can muster on this occasion, as another crosscourt pass lands just wide and he slams a forehand into the net to help Andrey belatedly onto the board.

The crowd try to get behind Rublev and he thunders an explosive winner to open. However, he’s soon looking forlorn again as he miscues another backhand into the net before Alcaraz takes charge with a dominant smash.

Andrey then rifles a crosscourt forehand into the tramlines and his fight evaporates again as Carlitos consolidates to 15 from there.

Rublev screams at the floor in utter frustration as Alcaraz hits back from 40-15 down with a delicious crosscourt slice that clips the tape on the way over, and a clinical backhand return winner up the line.

Andrey then slams a forehand into the net and throws his racquet to the floor. He pretty much implodes from there and breaks himself, leading to a ridiculously OTT lashing of his own knee with his racquet. It even draws blood and the type of reaction he really needs to get under control – it happens too often.

Carlitos leaves Rublev’s mood as black as the shirt he is wearing as he serves out the opener to 15 via a crisp 1-2 punch inside 42 minutes.

There's a suggestion the ferocity of his shots isn't quite up to the usual speed he's known for.

It's one to keep an eye on anyway.

That look was quite possibly meant to be intimidating given Carlitos would have seen Andrey was nervy in his previous service game.

The second seed obviously sensed something as he goes on the attack again here, gaining encouragement from some short balls and missed first serves from the Russian.

An explosive forehand sets up a first BP and although Andrey staves that off, the Spaniard jumps all over a second serve at deuce and conjures up a second chance.

This time Rublev can’t dodge his way out of danger and a skewed backhand flies into the tramlines to cough up what could well be a crucial break.

Alcaraz will now serve for the set.

Carlitos slams down his fourth ace of the match to end Rublev’s hopes of making deuce. The Spaniard looks straight at the Russian as he knocks the last ball in his pocket towards the ball boy. ‘Over to you, again’ is the message from the 20-year-old.

It’s Andrey who gets twitchy, losing his ball toss and failing to get the right angle on an attempted serve-plus-one at 30-30.

Alcaraz defends superbly and then steps into the forecourt to drill away a crosscourt forehand and snare the first BP of the match.

Rublev again loses the ball toss but he recovers with a huge wide serve that Alcaraz can’t get back. The Russian is clearly edgy out there, but wriggles his way through from deuce to keep his nose in front.

Right back at you.

Alcaraz delivers a kick serve to deploy a serve and volley that rushes the error out of Rublev and chalks up a straight-forward, love hold.

Eight games in and it feels like full-speed ahead to a tie-break, but will we get a late twist as the scoreboard pressure begins to rise?

It’s no secret that Rublev’s volleying skills are rather suspect. Indeed, against Medvedev he would move forward but opt for drive volleys ahead of trusting a more traditional technique.

He goes against the grain here though, catching Alcaraz cold with a surprise serve and volley to polish off another game in his favour.

Alcaraz produces a moment of magic to prevent Rublev from posing the first serious question of the match, reaching to his left on the stretch to jab a quite magnificent backhand down the line.

It had looked for all the world that Andrey was about to press at 15-30, but having seen his attack repelled in quite brilliant style, the Russian offered little resistance in the next two points and it’s as you were.