Ruusuvouri beats Astana Open top seed Aslan Karatsev in straight sets

Top seed Aslan Karatsev is out of the Astana Open following a tightly contested match against Finnish youngster Emil Ruusuvuori who won 7-6(6) 6-4.

It was a very interesting affair in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan between Karatasev and Ruusuovuri. Two players with a similar playstyle clashed in a very closely contested match where the Finnish player proved better. Both players have very flat shots and a powerful first serve and today the Finnish player simply played a bit better.

The end result was foreshadowed early in the match when Emil took a 3-1 lead after some a shaky start by Karatsev. The Russian was not hitting his serve well enough and that gave Ruusuvuori chances to attack him with the forehand. In total players traded 4 breaks in the first set that ended in the tiebreak. Ruusuvuori served a bit better in it and won it with 8-6.

The 2nd set was another interesting one with a similar script. Once again it was the Finnish player who served better with that being a key factor in the match. He took an early 2-1 lead with a break up but surrendered it right after. Ruusuvuori struggled with of the deep returns Karatsev was able to send back after a weaker serve.

In the end, however, he pulled out the win with a 6-4 2nd set finish thanks to attacking play when returning. He was able to win 53 % of Karatsev's 2nd serves breaking him twice in the 2nd set and 4 times overall. Losing your serve 4 times on indoor hard courts will get you beat quite easily.