Casper Ruud said he felt he made proper changes after losing the first set and that was the key in his big comeback victory over Matteo Berrettini in the Gstaad final.
Ruud, the top-seeded player in the Gstaad main draw, recovered from a set down to beat Berrettini 4-6 7-6 (4) 6-2 and win back-to-back Gstaad titles.
After losing the first set, Ruud faced two consecutive break points in the third game and also faced a break point in the ninth game.
However, Ruud was able to save those three break points and force a tie-break, in which he took an early 5-1 lead before realizing his second set point to send the match into a decider.
Berrettini’s game fell apart after failing to close out the final in two sets as Ruud broke the Italian twice in the third set to compete a three-set win.
Ruud on his comeback victory over Berrettini
āI changed [things] up a little bit in the third set especially, which helped,” Ruud said after the win, per the ATP website. āThe games and the points go by here fast. If you are not ready and focused, you can get broken or you can break, because the conditions allow you to. So it was key for me to hold my serve, I did that in the second set. Saving those break points was very important for me and everything went in my favour in the tie-break. So that was a bit fortunate. I just tried to keep that momentum going in the third set and I was able to get a break and play better and better throughout the third set.ā
Last year, Ruud won Gstaad in his tournament debut.
This year, Ruud returned to Gstaad for his second tournament appearance and made it all the way once again.
Ruud will likely return to Gstaad next year again and try to win his third title at the tournament.
Meanwhile, Ruud will now switch his focus to the upcoming North American hard court swing.