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Norweigen to next face No. 3 seed Tsitsipas in quarter-finals

Casper Ruud’s impressive winning run remained intact at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers on Thursday, as he defeated Dusan Lajovic in straight sets.

The World No. 12 eased past 2019 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters finalist Lajovic 6-4 6-3 to win his 14th consecutive match. Ruud has won his past three tournaments (Bastad, Gstaad and Kitzbuhel), and his record in 2021 now stands at 37-9.

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There were no breaks in the opening set until the final game, when Lajovic hit four unforced errors to donate the break to Ruud. The Norwiegen had no such trouble on serve in the opener, winning 20 of his 22 service points and 100 per cent of his second-serve points.

There was little to separate the two players in the second set, but it was the sixth seed who again gained a crucial break in the latter stages of his victory over the Serbian.

Ruud moves on to the quarter-finals of an ATP Tour event for the 11th time this season as he continues his pursuit of a first ATP Masters 1000 level title.

The 22-year-old will next play third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter-finals. Ruud won their only previous ATP Head2Head meeting this year in Madrid.

Norwegian outlasts Opelka in final-set tie-break

Norwegian Casper Ruud earned his 100th win in style on Wednesday at the Western & Southern Open, battling past American Reilly Opelka 6-7(5), 6-0, 7-6(4) to reach the third round after two hours and 25 minutes.

“It was a fun way to get your 100th win. A 7-6 in the third win is always probably one of the greatest feelings in the game, especially against a player like Opelka, where every point matters,” Ruud told ATPTour.com. “The match could be turned around in one or two points and decided in one or two points. It was a great way to get my 100th win.”

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Ruud is now 15 victories away from his father and coach, Christian Ruud, who earned 115 tour-level wins in his career.

“I need to win 16 more matches to get him and then I’ve beaten his record,” Ruud said. “Hopefully I can win 100 more, that would be nice. But in this game, there are no guarantees, so any match you win, you take it.”

Ruud, who recently won three titles in three weeks on clay, will play 10th seed Diego Schwartzman or American Frances Tiafoe for a place in the quarter-finals.