Casper Ruud navigates tricky 3-setter against Sousa in Estoril well to win

Casper Ruud faced a tricky challenge in Joao Sousa but the Norwegian was able to win the match in three sets 4-6 6-2 6-2 to secure a win in Estoril.

Ruud has not been playing well but he hoped that a return to clay would give him a boost as it's his best surface and has always been. The Norwegian didn't look that good to start because Sousa applied heavy pressure on him which the native Portuguese crowd loved. Sousa would eventually get a break and hold it to take the opening set 6-4.

Sousa served pretty well to start the match and it was one of the reasons why he was able to keep the very important break he got earlier in the match. The second didn't go that way as Ruud returned much better and Sousa didn't serve as well. That combination saw them play a lot of rallies on the serve of the Portuguese which gave him plenty of chances to break.

He did twice to take the set 6-2. The final one was another one where Sousa didn't quite serve as well giving Ruud plenty of chances. By now the rallies were going the way Ruud wanted and he broke Sousa three times in this set to take it 6-2. He got broken towards the end once himself but by then we knew the outcome of the match. A good win and a very needed one.