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Fourth seed to face Dimitrov in third round
At 23 years old Casper Ruud is hardly an ATP Tour veteran, but the seventh seed had to use all his experience to nullify an energetic performance from #NextGenATP Dane Holger Rune and reach the third round of the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters on Wednesday.

"Holger is one of the young guys on Tour, he’s on the rise, and he was playing well today,” said the fourth seed after securing a 7-6(5), 7-5 victory on Court Rainier III. “He played much more aggressive than in [our] previous matches and he didn’t let me control the match as much as I would like to."


The match was a far-cry from the pair’s two previous meetings, both won by Ruud in straight sets. The fourth seed clicked his powerful groundstrokes into gear just in time to recover a 3/5 deficit in the first-set tie-break before fighting back from 1-3 down to take a second frame that featured seven breaks of serve.

“He took the ball on the rise many times and was playing fast," said Ruud. "He’s had some matches on the surface already this year and has been in a good flow, so I’m happy that I was able to stop him.”

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Despite the loss, 18-year-old Rune can take plenty of positives from a performance that featured some real moments of quality, a demonstration of the talent that has so many in the tennis world talking. The Dane moved to a career-high No. 79 in the ATP Rankings on Monday and notched a maiden win in Monte Carlo by beating Aslan Karatsev in the first round.

Ruud's next assignment at the Monte Carlo Country Club will be a third-round clash with World No. 29 Grigor Dimitrov, as the Norwegian seeks to back up his run to a maiden ATP Masters 1000 final at the Miami Open presented by Itau just under two weeks ago.

Second seed Casper Ruud began the quest for his second title of the season Tuesday, overcoming #NextGenATP American Brandon Nakashima, 6-3, 6-2, to reach the third round at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell.

The Norwegian, who lifted the trophy on clay in Buenos Aires in February, soaked up Nakashima’s power as he broke four times to advance after 89 minutes in their first ATP Head2Head meeting.

Ruud will be aiming to bounce back in Barcelona, having lost in the third round to Grigor Dimitrov in Monte Carlo last week. The 23-year-old, who reached his maiden ATP Masters 1000 final in Miami in March, will next play Alexander Bublik or Finn Emil Ruusuvuori, who defeated Feliciano Lopez, 6-0, 6-1.

“It was a well-played match overall,” Ruud said. “In the end I played well. It was very tough in the first set, but I managed to great a break early in the second set and get ahead. It was a challenging match against Brandon because he plays aggressively and is one of the younger guys on Tour.

“What happened in Miami motivates me to reach another final at an ATP Masters 1000 event and now I have another two coming on clay.”

All third-round and quarter-final matches take place on action-packed Friday
Second seed Casper Ruud reached his third ATP Tour quarter-final of the season Friday, moving past Finn Emil Ruusuvuori 6-2, 6-2 at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell.

The Norwegian has produced some of his best tennis on clay and once again looked comfortable on the surface, pulling the World No. 73 around with his consistent and heavy groundstrokes to advance after 76 minutes.

The 23-year-old, who reached the second round in his only other Barcelona appearance in 2017, is now three wins away from capturing his eighth tour-level crown and seventh on clay. Ruud triumphed on the red dirt in Buenos Aires in February and is 7-1 on the surface in 2022.

The World No. 7 will return to court later on Friday to play Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta in the last eight after rain delayed play earlier this week leading to a packed Day 5 schedule at the ATP 500 event.

Ruud now leads Ruusuvuori 2-0 in their ATP Head2Head series. Last month, the 2021 Nitto ATP Finals semi-finalist reached his maiden ATP Masters 1000 championship match at the Miami Open presented by Itau, falling to #NextGenATP Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets.