Novak Djokovic made a successful start to his defense at the ATP Finals in Turin after prevailing over Holger Rune in a hard-fought three-set match 7-6 (4), 6-7 (1), 6-3 in over three hours in the "Pala Alpitour Arena".
The Serbian, who is gunning for a record seventh ATP Finals trophy, fell behind with a break in the opening set before breaking back and then taking the set on a tiebreak. The second set was identical, only this time the young Dane, who made his debut in the competition, managed to play a great tiebreak in which he gave only one point to the Joker. In the decisive third set, however, Nole broke through and, although his opponent broke back, another break for the reigning champion put an end to the dispute. Thus, the Serbian tennis player took a 3-2 lead over Rune in head-to-head matches, having recently knocked out the Dane at the Paris Masters on his way to the title in the French capital.
His match with Rune in Turin was again very close, but in the end Djokovic made one more break than his opponent, which made the difference between them. With the win, Nole ensured he finishes at the top of men's tennis for the eighth time in his career and that he will complete more than 400 weeks as number 1 after the tournament ends.
Today marks the beginning of The Red Group clashes. From 15:30 p.m. another debutant - Carlos Alcaraz, faces the former champion Alexander Zverev, and from 22:00 p.m. Bulgarian time is the all-Russian battle between Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev. /BGNES
