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Although Ruud appeared full of confidence after upsetting Carlos Alcaraz in his opening match, Zverev ground down the Norwegian with a rock-solid 86-minute display at Inalpi Arena.

“A good match. I thought both of us played quite good tennis,” said Zverev, who out-hit Ruud by 28 winners to 13. “I’m happy with the win. Maybe it was even better than my first match, even though the first match was quite good as well. I’m looking forward to Carlos now on Friday and hopefully more matches at the weekend.”

With his Tour-leading 68th victory of 2024, Zverev improved to 2-0 in John Newcombe Group. The Rome and Paris champion will take on Alcaraz in his final group match, when he will bid to secure his semi-final spot. Zverev is chasing his third ATP Finals title, having previously lifted the trophy in London in 2018 and Turin in 2021.

Zverev and Ruud were closely matched in an intriguing opening set that featured no break points but plenty of high-quality all-court exchanges. It was the second-seeded German who pulled clear when it mattered most, however, as he quickly established an ultimately unassailable 6/1 lead in the tie-break.

The second set played out in a similar fashion, with Ruud battling hard to cope with his opponent’s powerful serve and rasping groundstrokes. Just when the encounter seemed destined for a second tie-break, however, Zverev capitalised on a rare loose service game from his opponent to steal a decisive break for 5-3. From there, Zverev had no problem closing out his second win of the week, following his victory on Monday against Andrey Rublev.

In a match of relatively fine margins, Zverev’s ability to hit through the court proved key. His superior winner count included 11 aces and he also won 87 per cent (41/47) of points behind his first serve, according to Infosys ATP Stats. The in-form German, who lifted his second ATP Masters 1000 title of the season in Paris 10 days ago, is yet to face a break point this week in Turin.

Zverev’s seventh consecutive tour-level win consolidated his bid to finish the year as World No. 2 for the first time. The German is 505 points clear of third-placed Alcaraz heading into their Saturday showdown in Italy.

Zverev arrived in Turin with the most ATP Finals experience of the eight singles players. The 27 year-old is competing at the event for the seventh time, and he has racked up a 16-9 win/loss record overall.

“It means I’m old!,” joked Zverev when asked about his long history with the prestigious season finale. “But I still don’t feel old. I hope I have another solid 10 years ahead of me, but I think it’s a young group of guys. There has been kind of a shift in tennis this year and I think it’s a good thing. They’re exciting new players and everybody loves watching them.”