"Serve worked well today" - Ruud after win over Shapovalov

Casper Ruud advanced to his first European clay-court semi-final of the season Friday, downing Canadian Denis Shapovalov 7-6(7), 7-5 at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

The serve is working well for Ruud all week long and it certainly delivered today saving him a couple of times when faced with a break point. It was a long and competitive match with inches separating the two players but Ruud was able to get the job done. After the match he said:

”I think one of the most important things on clay is to put a lot of first serves in. Today was working well. I was serving well all match. At the beginning you are sometimes a bit nervous and excited to start, but after that I was able to calm down and find my tempo.”

Ruud had issues getting to a break point all match long as Shapovalov was putting on a serving clinic as well. Asked about that he said:

“You always feel the nerves a little bit extra on break points, especially against a big server such as Shapo. It is not easy to get a break against him, so you need to take the chances you have and the one I got was enough to seal the second set.”