Norway’s tennis star Casper Ruud registered yet another milestone
with his recent triumph at the Madrid Open. The 25-year-old is going through a fabulous
season where he has hardly put a foot wrong. On Saturday, Ruud registered yet
another impressive win, this time in the round of 64 clash against Miomir Kecmanovic
in straight sets with a score of 6-4, 6-1.
With that win, Ruud became the first player this year to
register 30 or more wins both in the ATP and WTA tours. Interestingly, last
year, the current world number six had to wait till the US Open to register 30
wins. Ruud came into this competition on the back of winning the ATP 500 event
in Barcelona where he defeated Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final with in
straight sets with a score of 7-5, 6-3.
The Oslo-born will now face Britain’s Cameron Norrie in the
round of 32 clash of the mega-event on Monday. It will be the fifth meeting between
the two as in the previous four meetings, the three-time Grand Slam runner-up
had a clear edge as he registered three wins and suffered just one defeat. Interestingly,
Norrie’s only win against Ruud came in their most recent meeting which took place
during the Australian Open round of 32 with a score of 6-4, 6-7, 6-4, 6-3. This
will be the first time when the two will face off on the clay court.