Casper Ruud came back from one set down to beat second alternate Cameron Norrie 1-6 6-3 6-4 at the Nitto ATP Finals at the Pala Alpitour in Turin.
Norrie earned two back-to-back breaks in the fourth and sixth games to win five consecutive games. The British player fended off a break point in the seventh game to win the first set 6-1 on his debut at this tournament.
Ruud earned his first break in the eighth game to seal the second set 6-3 after two forehand unforced errors and a volley into the net. The Norwegian player converted his third break point in the fifth game after a double fault from Norrie and held his final three service games to close out the third set 6-4 after 1 hour and 52 minutes.
Ruud has improved his record in his head-to-head matches against Norrie. Last October the Scandinavian player beat hs British rival 6-0 6-2 in the final of the San Diego Open.
Ruud won five consecutive titles in Geneva, Bastad, Gstaad, Kitzbuhel and San Diego. The former world junior number 1 player achieved a career-high number 8 after winning the sixth title of his career in San Diego. He swept clay-court titles at Bastad, Gstaad and Kitzbuhel in July 2021 to become the first player to win three titles in as many weeks since Andy Murray in Bangkok, Tokyo and Shanghai in 2011. He earned the biggest career career wins en route to Masters 1000 semifinals when he beat Matteo Berrettini in the quarter finals in Rome 2020, Diego Schwartzman in Monte-Carlo 2021 and Stefanos Tsitsipas in Madrid 2021. He advanced to his first Grand Slam fourth round at the 2021 Australian Open.
“The first set went away a bit too quickly. I think I started off quite well and I had some game points that I threw away. Cameron is a great baseline player. He makes you play a lot of balls and he runs down a lot of balls. He has a tricky flat backhand, here on these courts it’s a really effective shots. I wasn’t getting the feel of the shots at the beginning, so I made quite a few mistakes. For the first set and a half, he was the better player. My serve saved me today on some big points. That’s how tennis can turn quickly, just a break or a couple of points here and there”, said Casper Ruud.
Djokovic has already won the Green Group. Andrey Ruud and Casper Ruud will play a decisive match for the second semifinal spot on Friday.
Norrie was called on to replace Stefanos Tsitsipas, who was forced to withdraw due to an elbow injury. He becomes the fourth British player to qualify for the ATP Finals after Greg Rusedski, Tim Henman and Andy Murray.
