Casper Ruud booked his spot in the Madrid Open quarter-finals with a dramatic 6-7, 7-6, 7-6 win over Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The Norwegian fought back from two match points down late in the third set, breaking Tsitsipas back to level things up and force a tiebreak.
Ruud took control in the decider, winning it 7-3 to finish strong. The Norwegian’s ability to raise his game under pressure made all the difference.
Speaking after the match, Ruud revealed what was going through his mind before saving those crucial match points:
Following the match, Ruud spoke about whether he was frustrated by his missed opportunities to convert break points throughout the contest.
“I was frustrated, because I knew, I knew I had many, there were a couple of games where I had 0-40, 15-40, and I felt like he served big at all of them, and that’s the way it goes, too good, well done by him, serving himself out of it,” said Ruud.
“I think I had one or two second serves where I had the point in play, but you move on and just hope that you get one more break point, and luckily I did.
“It was nice to see, obviously you don’t hope for mistakes out of your opponent’s racket, you want to see great tennis but when you’re on a break point to stay in the match you kind of hope for an unforced error and luckily he did.”
“At 5-5 in the third set this is why we train hard. This is why we love this sport for these moments. So really happy to be able to step up there.”
Ruud made nine consecutive wins at Madrid Open after his remarkable comeback against Tsitsipas.
“I was on the brink of being on my way home already. Just really happy and proud with the way that I fought back,” he said.
”The first two sets were really close. The scoreline said so as well.”
“The third set, I kind of felt like I had a better beginning, had some break chances early on.”
“There was one easy sitter forehand. The plan was to go big cross, and then I changed my mind a split second before, I hesitated, and went down the linea hit it into the top of net.
Later on Tuesday, Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina and Belgium’s Alexander Blockx will square off for a place in the quarter-finals.
Ruud got the better of Cerundolo during last year’s semi-finals on his way to the title, though he hasn’t faced Blockx before.
If Ruud gets through this time, he’ll face one of Daniil Medvedev, Flavio Cobolli, Jakub Mensik or Alexander Zverev in the last four.
And standing in his way again could be world number one Jannik Sinner, who is expected to make another deep run.
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