Casper Ruud endured the least preferred part of the ATP season for him, and he returned to winning at the 2023 Bastad Open.
The 24-year-old isn't really shy in admitting that he doesn't like the grass courts, and even though he managed to win one match at the 2023 Wimbledon, his second-round clash with Great Britain's Liam Broady was a losing effort.
Soon after that, the Norwegian was seen practicing again, and this time, it was on his favourite clay courts as he was gearing up for the 2023 Bastad Open, where he's the first-seeded player in the draw.
Ruud won the tournament in 2021, and even though he's the defending champion at the 2023 Swiss Open in Gstaad, which is played at the same time, the Norwegian opted to play in the Scandinavian tournament in Bastad, Sweden.
After having a bye in the first round, the top seed knew that he'll face one of the two challenging opponents in the second round as Juan Manuel Cerundolo from Argentina and Alexander Shevchenko from Russia clashed.
The Russian was victorious in two sets, setting up the first meeting on the ATP Tour against the three-time Grand Slam finalist. But with Ruud back on his favourite surface, Shevchenko didn't really stand a chance.
The Norwegian started with a break-to-love already in the second game of the match, and after only a few minutes, he led already 3-0 in the first set. The Russian had two break points to break back in the fifth game, but after Ruud saved those, he increased his level once again to break once more and win the opening set 6-2.
It was the underdog in the match that started the second set better, breaking Ruud and leading 2-0, but the Norwegian started a strong come back, and once again, he was able to break the Russian two times in the set.
After an hour and 19 minutes, Ruud won the match 6-2, 6-4 to set up a quarterfinal match with Sebastian Ofner from Austria, who will want to meet fellow compatriot Filip Misolic in the semifinals, as the other Austrian will play against the third-seeded Lorenzo Musetti in the quarterfinals.
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