(Casper Ruud-Benoit-Pierre 6-3, 6-1) Casper Ruud easily advanced to the quarter-finals of the Geneva Open.
May 22 – the day after this week’s Geneva Open final – kicks off the second glam slam tournament of the year, the French Open. And just a week before the French Open, Casper Ruud was already in the process of finding great form.
On Wednesday, Rudd easily won in straight sets against Benoit Payer. France gave Ruud a good fight at first, but halfway through the first set, Rudd warmed up.
Bayer, who is known to swing a little at the shows, couldn’t keep up and Rudd eventually won the set numbers 6-3, 6-1.
Rather than just a simple match, I would say it was a great match for Casper Rudd. He takes the form he has from Roma and plays a fairly flawless tennis match. I’d say Casper is in the process of playing the way we want it to be ahead of the French Open, says tennis ambassador Krogh Sundbow.
On Thursday, Rudd plays in the quarter-finals against Thansi Kokinakis, in a match that will be broadcast on VG + Sport.
Casper Rudd won his first tournament on the ATP Tour of Europe when he won the Geneva Open in Geneva, Switzerland last year and competed as defending champion this year. After a variable start to this year’s European gravel season, Rudd showed good rhythm at last week’s Italian Masters 1000 Open in Rome, finally saying he stopped out for world number one Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals.
I don’t think we can say that clearly enough. Self-confidence is what separates a very good Casper Rudd from a half-good Casper Rudd. The technology is there. He has one of the best forehands in the world and he has one of the best pebbles you can find in the world, but it depends a lot on the weight he’s playing with, especially in terms of forehand. If there is a little uncertainty there, there is a lot of explosion of this kind so he can control it with many thoughts. He’s got to be there automatically, and that’s the feeling he brings with him when he sees him succeed match after match, says Sundbø.
The tennis commentator “only” cites Carlos Alcaraz, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas as players he believes Ruud will not be a favorite on the gravel in Paris. He points out that he’s still a long way from really getting that far in the championship.
Rudd has been knocked out in the third round in the past three years, never having progressed past the fourth round of a Grand Slam (Australian Open 2021) before. The Norwegian will be ranked eighth at the French Open and therefore cannot face any of the mentioned players until at least the quarter-finals.
Being among the top eight is very important. He had to win the quarter-finals in Rome to climb into the top eight. I think it’s important to be in that rating, and not have to face the best defender before the quarter-finals, says Sundbø.
In Geneva, world number two Daniil Medvedev, who is playing his first tournament of the season after being injured for six weeks, is nervous. But in rehearsal before the French Open, there was no confidence boost for the Russian, who smoked in the second round against Richard Gasquet on Tuesday.
Thus, Rudd is the highest ranked player once again in the tournament.
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