Casper Ruud to the semi-finals in Estoril – beat Hungarians in straight sets – Dagsavisen

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Ruud blew his opponent off the court at times and won the match with the set numbers 6-3, 6-2 on the clay in the city west of Lisbon.

Ruud is the defending champion in the tournament and delivered a strong serve in the meeting with the 85th-ranked Hungarian. During the second set, Fucsovics had to receive treatment in his thigh, but finished the match. He could not refuse Norwegian participation in the semi-finals.

In the next phase, Ruud meets Spanish Pedro Martinez, who beat French Richard Gasquet in straight sets on Friday. Ruud has met Martinez once before. It happened in Kitzbühel in 2021 and the Norwegian won 2-1 in sets.

Early fractures

Friday’s match was Ruud’s first meeting with Fucsovics in an ATP context. The Norwegian showed good serving early on and often won his games by a good margin.

When he broke to a 3-1 lead, the way back was long for Fucsovics, and Ruud won the first set 6-3.

Ruud continued to prove strong and in the second set there was an early break of serve to make it 1-0. Fucsovics looked affected and frustrated by the pace the Norwegian had with the racket. At the same time, he held onto his knee on several occasions.

Read also: Casper Ruud played his way to the quarter-finals in the year’s first clay court match

The first seed

In the next game, the Hungarian had the opportunity to break, but Ruud saved himself. Before that, the Norwegian had only lost two points on his own serve throughout the match.

When Ruud broke for a 3-1 lead, Fucsovics called in a physiotherapist to look at his injury problem. It appeared that the Hungarian was struggling with something muscular in his thigh.

Afterwards, he returned to the pitch and put Ruud under more pressure, but the Norwegian secured the victory.

Ruud is the first seed in the tournament in Estoril. In the second semi-final, Cristian Garín (Chile) and Polish Hubert Hurkacz will compete.

Read also: Ruud back on his favorite surface – the winning percentage is so much higher on gravel