French Open: Casper Ruud, Holger Rune advance to quarterfinal
Casper Ruud advanced to the quarterfinal of the ongoing French Open with a win over Nicolas Jarry
Paris: The Norway tennis star Casper Ruud advanced to the quarterfinal of the ongoing French Open with a win over Nicolas Jarry in the fourth-round clash on Monday. As per ATP, Ruud won by 7-6(3), 7-5, 7-5.
Ruud saved 14 of 17 break points in three close sets to advance to his third major quarter-final.
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The Norwegian won a first-set tie-break, then recovered from 1-4 to win the second set and then 2-4 to win the third to complete a three-hour, 20-minute victory. In an intriguing battle, his rock-solid baseline performance in windy circumstances proved pivotal against the aggressive Jarry, who smashed 56 winners to Ruud’s 30. Nonetheless, the Chilean was unable to match his opponent’s consistency in crucial points.
“It was great for me. Three very, very tough sets. I think today I can thank my team for pushing me every day in practice because not every day is as tough as [this one]. But I do the work and I felt physically fine,” said Ruud as quoted by ATP.
“I was ready for more if we had to play more, so it was a win not just for me but my team as well. We have done great work the last couple of years, and I’m happy to be back in the quarter-finals,” he added.
In the next round, Ruud will face Holger Rune as he continues his quest for a maiden Grand Slam title.
Rune became a five-set winner for the first time on Monday at Roland Garros, when the sixth-seeded Denmark player overcame Francisco Cerundolo and physical challenges to win 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(10-7) in the fourth round.
He prevailed in a three-hour 59 minute minutes, which saw his quality fluctuate throughout. He clinched the nail-biting decider set on the court.
“I had a heartbreaking loss in Australia, where I had this situation,” said Rune during his on-court interview.
“I served for the match and lost and ended up in a Match Tie-break like this, so actually I told myself when we started the Match Tie-break just to relax and play tennis and enjoy [it]. Moments like this stay with you forever, no matter if you win or lose, you just go and enjoy and try to play your best, so I enjoyed every moment,” he added.
Earlier, Stefanos Tsitsipas extended his perfect run in the ongoing 2023 French Open as he breezed past Austrian Sebastian Ofner in the fourth round of Roland Garros on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
With the victory, Tsitsipas set a blockbuster quarterfinals showdown at French Open 2023 against Carlos Alcaraz.
After Alcaraz displayed masterclass performance form earlier in the day against Lorenzo Musetti, Tsitsipas replied with a statement performance of his own, losing serve just once en route to a 7-5, 6-3, 6-0 victory. The top seed Alcaraz eased to a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory against Musetti.
Ofner fought back early and was poised to force his favourite opponent into a first-set tie-break. But when the Austrian hit a forehand wide on set point, Tsitsipas took advantage to take the lead.
The Greek star hit 27 winners to just 12 unforced errors in the one-hour, 48-minute clash. He has not lost a set since the first round against Jiri Vesely.
