Casper Ruud advanced to his fourth Grand Slam quarter-final with a battling four-set win against Taylor Fritz on Monday at Roland Garros. Each of the past three times the Norwegian advanced to that stage at a major, he went on to reach the final — including each of the past two years in Paris.
In a 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory, Ruud rallied from 1/5 and saved a set point in the first-set tie-break before battling back from an early break down in the pivotal third set. Though the seventh seed failed to serve out set three, he converted on his fourth break point in the ensuing game to take what proved to be a decisive lead.
"Happy and proud that I was able to turn the match somewhat around," Ruud said. "It didn't look like it was over, but I was at least down in the third set a break and then came back from there."
Ruud swept the final four games of the match to advance to the last eight, where he will meet Novak Djokovic in a rematch of last year's Roland Garros final. He converted on six of 27 break points against Fritz, according to Infosys Stats.
Ruud extended his lead for the 2024 tour-level season in wins (39) and clay wins (20) with Monday's result.
Through to his third consecutive quarter-final in Paris👏@CasperRuud98 breezes past Fritz 7-6(6) 3-6 6-4 6-2.@rolandgarros | #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/a4dBgpSDmn
— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 3, 2024
Both of the Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings between Ruud and Fritz have featured extended tie-breaks. At the 2022 Nitto ATP Finals, Ruud won an 8/6 final-set tie-break in the round-robin stage before progressing to the final, where he lost to Djokovic. But the Norwegian picked up his first win against Djokovic earlier this season in the Monte-Carlo semi-finals, and will be eager to test the legs of this tournament's marathon man on Wednesday in their seventh meeting. Djokovic has spent more than nine hours on court over the course of his past two matches.
"I don't expect him to surrender at all. I have to expect him to be fresh, ready and that it's going to be a tough match," Ruud said. "Last year in the final, I got an early break in the first set, I still remember. I lost it on the tie-break. It was a long, tough, physical set. I'm going to try to learn from that, if I get an early break try not to be broken back, obviously. I'm just going to expect him to be fresh, ready in two days."
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