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TURIN, Italy -- Carlos Alcaraz had his drop shot clicking, and it helped him overcome physical issues to claim a 6-3, 7-6 (8) victory over Andrey Rublev at the ATP Finals on Wednesday. The win put Alcaraz back into contention for a spot in the semifinals of the year-ending tournament for the top eight players, after he was beaten by Casper Ruud in straight sets in his opener. Also, Alexander Zverev made it two wins in two matches by beating Ruud 7-6 (3), 6-3. Zverev leads the group, Alcaraz and Ruud have one win each, and Rublev dropped to 0-2 after losing to Zverev in their opener. Top-ranked Jannik Sinner leads the other group ahead of Taylor Fritz, Daniil Medvedev and Alex De Minaur. The top two finishers in each round-robin group advance to the semifinals. Alcaraz said after the Ruud match Monday that he hadn't been feeling well and was "uncomfortable in the stomach." The Spaniard then cut short a practice session Tuesday. "I just tried to be focused on my game, on what I have to do, and forget about that I'm not feeling well, I'm sick and all that stuff," Alcaraz said. Alcaraz wore a pink nose strip to help with his breathing. "It is something that I'm going to wear more often," he said. "I could recover better between points." Alcaraz produced several drop-shot winners, and on the occasions when Rublev did run down the short balls, the Spaniard hit winners into the open court on his next shot. Late in the second set, Alcaraz even produced a drop-shot approach volley winner. In the second set tiebreaker, he saved two set points. "I felt like the last month I couldn't hit good drops," said Alcaraz, who dropped behind Zverev to No. 3 in the rankings this week. "And I was thinking, 'What's going on?' You know, my style, my game is about playing these kind of shots ... so I tried to do it today." In all, Alcaraz produced more than twice as many winners (31-14) as Rublev. "I think he missed only one when he was 40-0 up," Rublev said of Alcaraz's drop shots. "All the rest he won." Alcaraz plays Zverev in his final group match, and Rublev plays Ruud. Zverev served 11 aces and didn't face a break point to stay on course for a third trophy at the finals after titles in London in 2018 and Turin in 2021. Zverev extended his winning streak to seven matches after a title run at the Paris Masters. After his matches lately, Zverev has come back out to practice more. "I want to develop my game further so I can compete with Jannik and Carlos," Zverev said. "They're the two benchmarks right now. They're the ones that are winning Grand Slams. I want to be part of that group. I know they're going to improve, so I have to keep up."
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