World No. 7 Casper Ruud echoed Rafael Nadal following his first match in Monte Carlo as he noted the opening matches are always challenging.
Ruud, seeded at No. 4, had a first round bye in Monte Carlo, before he edged out Holger Rune in two tight sets 7-6 (5) 7-5.
Ruud wasn’t at his best but still managed to escape with a straight-set win over Rune.
“The first matches are always challenging. You hear the top guys say it many times. Also, Rafa said it many times, for him, the first matches can be v difficult to get into the rhythm,” Ruud said after beating Rune.
Casper, of course, brings up Rafa.
“The first matches are always challenging. You hear the top guys say it many times. Also, Rafa said it many times, for him, the first matches can be v difficult to get into the rhythm.” pic.twitter.com/OfDZBsQdZP— Del🇪🇺 (@Stroppa_Del) April 13, 2022
Also, Ruud praised fellow Scandivanian.
“Holger is one of the young guys on Tour, he’s on the rise, and he was playing well today,” Ruud said. “He played much more aggressive than in [our] previous matches and he didn’t let me control the match as much as I would like to.”
Ruud beaten in his following match
Ruud defeated Rune to set up a second career meeting against Grigor Dimitrov.
Ruud, who is becoming a strong force on clay, was aiming to improve his head-to-head against Dimitrov to 2-0.
Unfortunately for Ruud, he failed to deliver a big performance as Dimitrov upset the Norwegian 6-3 7-5.
“I was really looking forward to the match,” Dimitrov said in his on-court interview. “I knew if I did the right things, good things would come out of it. Casper is such a great player on whatever surface. He has proved it over and over again at such a young age, which is nice to see. I liked that matchup and wanted to see where I was physically and mentally. I just played and enjoyed the game.”
Ruud already has one clay title in his collection as he made it all the way in February at the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires.