Dimitrov stuns 2021 Monte-Carlo semifinalist Ruud in straight sets

Monaco resident Grigor Dimitrov put on his best tennis today against Casper Ruud sending the Norwegian packing 6-3 7-5.

In a very interesting matchup between Dimitrov and Ruud, it was the Bulgarian who seemed like the clay-court specialist thoroughly outplaying his opponent in two sets. The Norwegian had quite a few issues against Rune in the previous round and they carried over today against Dimitrov as well. The Bulgarian had issues of his own in the previous round but those were not present today.

Dimitrov served better in the first set and that proved quite crucial cause the Bulgarian was superb on his own serve. He dropped only one point when he hit his first serve and that's something that is very hard to overcome. Ruud did not serve as well and generally, in rallies, he was rather on the backfoot. All of that combined gave Dimitrov too many chances and he took 3 of them for the 6-3 finish.

Ruud did find some rhytm towards the end of the set and it served him well in the 2nd set as he played a bit better. He served better which allowed him to keep his serve easier than in the first set. Dimitrov did not see any break chances but he did not allow any either. He was once again stellar on his own serve losing only a handful of points overall.

Ultimaely that solid effort allowed him to finish off the match wtih 7-5 for the major upset.