ATP Madrid: Casper Ruud creates a surprise against Tsitsipas
Casper Ruud caused a big surprise at the ATP Masters tournament in Madrid: In the round of 16, the Norwegian beat the Monte Carlo winner Stefanos Tsitsipas in two sets.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: May 06, 2021, 07:48 pm
It was 7: 6 (4), 6: 4 after a strong match for Ruud, who beat one of the top players of the year with Tsitsipas - and one of the strongest men on clay: Tsitsipas had last won in Monte Carlo and was wafer-thin in the final in Barcelona lost to Rafael Nadal.
Ruud dominated again and again with his strong topspin-heavy forehand - although Tsitsipas did not play badly either. With 30 winners and only 20 errors without need, the Greek was even ahead in the statistics, Ruud had 17 wins with 12 unforced errors; Both players won the same number of points in the end, namely 65.
"In many tight situations, at 30:30, the first serve came, that was important," said Ruud, explaining one of the secrets of his victory. He didn't have to accept a break in the entire course of the tournament, and even better: He has not yet allowed a break chance!
Tsitsipas also showed a strong serve and only gave his opponent one break chance in the entire match, which he used.
Ruud now against Bublik
"It's my biggest win on the tour," said Ruud with delight afterwards - he celebrated his first win over a player in the top 5. And in the coming week he will move into the top 20 for the first time.
And Ruud's path does not have to end: In the quarter-finals he will meet another surprise winner: Alexander Bublik, who took Aslan Karatsev out of the tournament at noon.
John Isner (against Andrey Rublev) and Cristian Garin (against Daniil Medvedev) had already caused surprises today, even if Medvedev would never see a defeat on clay as such .
Next, however, is the top seeded Rafael Nadaland Dominic Thiem, who is listed on three.
The entire men's draw at a glance
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