Ruud through to his first US Open quarterfinal.
World No. 7 Casper Ruud described Corentin Moutet as “a very tricky player” as he admitted that the Frenchman was definitely not an easy opponent to handle. Ruud, the fifth-seeded player in the US Open main draw, defeated 112th-ranked Moutet 6-1 6-2 6-7 (4) 6-2 to progress into his first quarterfinal at Flushing Meadows.
“I had a great start and the [two] sets that I won were not showing the real result. It was much tougher,” Ruud said after the match, per the ATP website. “Corentin is a very tricky player. He has all the shots, runs well.
He can produce trick shots and everything. I really needed to stay focused and stay sharp and I was playing really well until I got broke back in the third, which was frustrating. He raised his level a bit. But [the] fourth set I was able to break him a couple of times and serve good enough luckily.
I didn’t change much but I was able to dictate the game more”.
Ruud missed out on a good chance to close out the match in three sets
The two players were tied to one game apiece in the first set, before Ruud claimed back-to-back breaks and won five games in a row to win the first set in style.
Pretty much the same scenario happened in the second set as Ruud broke Moutet twice to open a comfortable two-set lead. After taking a two-set lead, Ruud claimed the first break of the third set in the fifth game. Down by two sets and a break, Moutet refused to quit as he broke back Ruud in the eighth game and eventually sent the set into a tie-break.
In the tie-break, Ruud had a 4-3 lead before Moutet won the next four points to win the third set and force a fourth set. But failing to close out the match in three sets didn’t impact Ruud, who broke Moutet twice in the fourth set to escape with a four-set win. Ruud plays next Matteo Berrettini.
