Casper Ruud quickly recovered from a shaky start on Wednesday to produce a polished serving display to secure victory on his return to the BNP Paribas Nordic Open in Stockholm.
The second seed opened his campaign on the indoor hard court ATP 250 with a 7-6(2), 6-4 victory against big-name player Marin Cilic. After falling behind 1-4 in the opening set, Ruud found his rhythm with impressive serves and signature moves to improve his season record to 14-3 in the opening rounds.
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“It was a good match, I’m very happy,” said Ruud, who improved to 4-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Cilic. “Marin is a great player, very aggressive. He had a better start than me, so I just tried to get my form and rhythm back in the match. I’m very happy with the win.”
Despite falling behind early, Ruud quickly took control from the baseline, combining precise groundstrokes with dominant serves to turn the match around. According to Infosys ATP Stats, he won four consecutive games in the first set and won all twelve first-serve points in the second set.
Ruud’s one hour and fifty minute victory boosted his bid to reach the Nitto ATP Finals for the fourth time. The 2022 runner-up at the season finale will finish 11th in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin. In the quarter-finals he will face Sebastian Korda.
Korda earlier defeated Kamil Majchrzak 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 in a thrilling match lasting two hours and 33 minutes. According to Infosys ATP Stats, the American dropped only four of 28 points on serve in the final set, achieving his 100th victory on the hard court. In doing so, he became the fifth player born in the 2000s to do so.
In Wednesday’s first round, Lorenzo Sonego kicked off his quest for a second indoor title by beating British qualifier Arthur Fery 6-4, 6-2. Sonego set up a second-round meeting with Aleksandar Kovecevic, who led eighth seed Camilo Ugo Carabelli 4-6, 7-5, 4-0 when the Argentine was forced to retire due to injury.
Marton Fucsovics got past Jesper de Jong 6-1, 6-2 to book a clash with top seed and 2022 Stockholm champion Holger Rune.
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