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Casper Ruud made a great game when she beat the strong Russian Karen Khachyanov 2-1 in the 1st round of the ATP1000 tournament in Rome.
Karen Khachanov is ranked 16th in the latest rankings and is therefore the highest ranked Ruud has beaten in his career.
Casper took home the first set 6-3 after breaking the opponent’s serve once.
He managed to break 3-1 and did not abandon the initiative. The Norwegian was good at varying his backhand and forehand play and followed the tactic of letting the opponent run a bit.
– There’s the switch for Casper! Giant tennis: that was important, said Ola Bentzen in a comment to Eurosport.
– Too strong
In the second set, it was the Russian who managed to break the opponent’s serve first. It rose to 3-1 after a couple of bad decisions by the Norwegian team were fatal.
Ruud, for his part, managed to sharpen his game a couple of notches and broke back to 3-4 after securing three break balls.
Khachanov was slick and somewhat lucky as he struck back and raised to 5-3 and was able to serve the set at home after saving three break balls.
In the decisive third set, Ruud managed to break early and climbed to a 3-0 lead. Ruud also broke the Russian’s serve when he rose to 5-1. The Norwegian took home the set 6-1.
– Strong by our best man on the gravel, the Eurosport commentator after the win.
Dad: – Good condition
Casper is good at finding exits today. Khachanov is not weak, but in my opinion Casper is in better shape than the Russian, Father Christian Ruud explained after the match.
Naturally, he was very pleased with what he saw of his son in Rome.
The ATP1000 tournament in Rome is a major preparation tournament ahead of the French Open in Paris at the end of September.
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