Casper Ruud has kicked-off his campaign at the ATP Finals by edging out Felix Auger-Aliassime in two closely contested sets.
Ruud, who has reached two Grand Slam finals this season, defeated the Canadian 7-6(5), 6-4, to record his 49th win of the year. It is the third consecutive time he has beaten Auger-Aliassime and the second in 2022. In his latest match, he hit 16 winners and won 75% of his first service points.
“The serve is extremely important on this surface (at the ATP Finals). One break in the whole match is enough to win, so you really have to be focused on your serve,” Ruud said afterwards.
“I was serving well today. I have been recently struggling a little bit with my serve in the past weeks so I am very happy.”
Historically Ruud has been an Achilles heel for Auger-Aliassime after winning two out of their three previous meetings. In fact, his dominant 6-1, 6-2, triumph at the Canadian Masters earlier this year was the heaviest loss Auger-Aliassime has ever suffered as a professional player.
However, since then 22-year-old has become a formidable force on the Tour after winning 17 out of his past 18 matches played, capturing titles in Florence, Antwerp and Basel. Heading into this week’s tournament he has won more indoor matches than any other player on the ATP Tour this year.
Taking to the court in Turin for their latest encounter, the two players were almost inseparable throughout the opener. The first 12 games went by with no break point opportunities arising as both men won more than 80% of their service points.
The tussle continued into the tiebreaker where Ruud grabbed early a mini breaky for 4-2 following a double fault for Auger-Aliassime. However, two points later he lost his advantage after hitting a passing shot which narrowly landed out. In what was a test of nerves, Auger-Aliassime was the one who faltered at the worst possible moment after hitting a backhand error, his seventh of the match, to hand Ruud another break and more crucially a set point. Ruud converted on the next point with the help of another error from his opponent, this time from the forehand side.
Continuing to tame the threat coming from across the court, Ruud had all the answers asked of him by a frustrated Auger-Aliassime. In the fourth game of the second set, the Norwegian was taken to deuce on his serve for the first time but still came out on top. Then at 3-3, he broke for the first time after three consecutive errors from the world No.6 who started to implode on the court. That break gave Ruud enough of a margin to close out the match after just under two hours of play. He sealed victory on his first match point with a serve out wide which his rival returned out.
“This is some of my best level since the US Open. The last couple of months have been a bit of a struggle but you have to accept it as well,” said Ruud, who hasn’t won back-to-back matches since the US Open.
“You will face difficult moments in your career and maybe these last few months have been one of those. Let’s see if I can turn it around.
“Today was a great win. Felix has been on a roll this fall and I knew he was going to come out strong. I played well and found some of my best level. I’m extremely happy with that. I knew if I wanted to have a chance I had to bring my A-game and I did just that.”
It is only the third time in 2022 that Ruud has beaten a top-10 player. At the ATP Finals, he will play Rafael Nadal and Taylor Fritz later in the week who will face each other on Sunday evening.
“The next match is going to be tough no matter who I play. At least I have a win in the bag. I’m sure there have been people who have won their first match and then lost their next two at the tournament so I am not going to count on anything. I’m just going to focus on the next matches.” The two-time Grand Slam finalist concluded.
