ATP: Casper Ruud in Santiago before second title in 2020
Casper Ruud reached the final at the ATP Tour 250 tournament in Santiago. There the winner from Buenos Aires meets Thiago Sebyboth Wild from Brazil.
by Robin Huiber
last edit: Mar 01, 2020, 07:38 am
The year 2020 started well for Casper Ruud: the 21-year-old Norwegian had given his selection a place in the ATP Cup with his strong world rankings, Ruud almost got the maximum out of his appearances with wins against John Isner and Fabio Fognini. The 21-year-old only had to give up against Daniil Medvedev, really no shame.
Ruud coped very well with the dramatic first round end at the Australian Open against Egor Gerasimov, and immediately won his first title on the ATP tour at his next appearance in Buenos Aires. And the next one could follow on Sunday - because Casper Ruud is also in the final in Cordoba. Whatever is befitting according to the number two position, the veteran, veteran Albert Ramos-Vinolas, waited in the semi-finals, who fought hard, especially in the first set. In the end, however, there was a 7: 6 (2) and 6: 2 for Ruud, who goes as a favorite in the final against Thiago Seyboth Wild. Even if the young Brazilian, who had entered the main field with a Wilcard, knew how to convince at 6: 1 and 6: 3 against Renzo Olivo.
Ruud still has Challenger results in his rating
The successes of the first two months are also reflected in the annual ranking: Ruud has now outgrown the #NextGen, in the Race to London he was already in 20th place before the tournament in Santiago, with a possible additional 250 points the jump would even be close to that best ten players of the year possible.
Ruud will also continue to improve in the regular world rankings - he currently has two results from ATP challengers (semi-finals in Prostejov and quarter-finals in Braunschweig) in the rating. Ruud has already made up two places - if he also left Santiago as the tournament winner, it would even be among the top 30 players in the world for the first time.
In 2020, only three other players won two individual tournaments on the ATP tour: Novak Djokovic (Australian Open, Dubai), Gael Monfils (Montpelleir, Rotterdam) and Cristian Garin (Cordoba, Rio de Janeiro). Garin had to give up in the quarterfinals in Santiago.