Norwegian Casper, ranked number 6, advances to the Barcelona Open quarter-finals with a defeat of Australian Jordan Thompson, ranked 33, scoring 6 – 1, 6 – 4.
The third-seeded Ruud easily outplayed Thompson securing the most tour-level triumphs of 2024.
The twenty-five year old, ten time ATP tour champion’s pristine hitting from the baseline was no match for Thompson.
Ruud maneuvered into an early 5 – 0 lead as he closed out the opening set before securing a positive break in the seventh game of the second, leading to a seventy-three minute triumph.
The Norwegian won 81% (26/32) of points as he achieved a 3 – 2 lead in the Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Thompson, therefore, avenging the Los Cabos loss to Thompson in February.
Ruud will next, for the second time, face number 40 Italian Matteo Arnaldi in the quarter-finals.
Tsitsipas on a streak
Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, ranked number seven, is promoted to the quarter-finals with a win against number seventy-two ranked Spanierd Roberto Carballes Baena in the Barcelona Open with a 7 – 5, 6 – 3 score.
Tsitsipas continued his good form from Monte Carlo and defeated Carballes Baena with three of eleven break points.
Carballes Baena achieved the first break of serve in the fifth game, but Tsitsipas responded immediately with a break of his own.
In the twelfth game he clinched the opening set, and another break of serve in the sixth game of the second set that situated Tsitsipas on the path to victory.
Tsitsipas stated, “It’s good to be on a streak like this. It tends to get tougher, the more you proceed to maintain it is the most difficult part, so to have that number so far is good. It adds confidence to me, I really like to be on a streak like this”.
After the match Tsitsipas also added, “I had to stay there and try and find solutions. He was returning well at certain moments in the match, and I had to come up with some big shots. My patience was there when I needed it the most. I was doing great things with my forehand and my serve seemed to click at some point during the match, which gave me a few games. That helped a little bit [from a] physical aspect”.
Written by Bonnie Kilgore
