Casper Ruud ended his Japan Open experience fairly early by losing to Marcos Giron, and he spoke about it after the match.
It wasn't a very good match from Ruud, which is a shame after he looked so good against Yosuke Watanuki in the previous round. The Norwegian referenced that match after this one, explaining that he tried to play on the same level, but things ultimately didn't work out.
The best illustration of that is the ending sequence, which saw Ruud lose four games in a row to go from 4-2 to 4-6 in the second set. That's just how things have been going for him this year, but he tried to strike a positive tone after the disappointment.
I think it went better than last year so what can you say, I played better than last year, for sure,” said the tournament’s number two seed. Maybe not what I was really hoping for and kind of what I needed but there’s still a couple of weeks to go and I’ll keep my head high and try to fight in the last couple of weeks of the year.
I tried to play the same level as I did yesterday — maybe I wasn’t able to but it’s OK, it’s not always easy to shift from one day to the other with different opponents. I wasn’t able to be ready enough for his game and counter his game.
The loss is a heavy one for Ruud because it leaves him with not the best odds of making the ATP Finals in Turin. He played there last year, so failing to qualify this year would render the season an even bigger failure than it already is.
There are still chances, but he'll need to be perfect in the coming few weeks if he hopes even to stand a chance of being in Turin.
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