Casper Ruud was smacked in the opening set by Cristian Garin, but he got the last laugh with a stunning comeback win at the 2023 Hamburg Open.
Casper Ruud once again had trouble in his match, but he once again rose up on top of it. The Norwegian has been winning matches on clay recently, but very few of his matches actually went without trouble. This one saw Ruud completely outplayed by Cristian Garin in the opening set of their Hamburg Open match.
It was a smacking by Garin, who is a fine player on clay, even though he struggled with some injuries in the recent two years. 6-1 was the score, and you'll rarely see somebody outplay Casper Ruud that badly on the surface.
Garin is generally a tough matchup for the Norwegian as he beat him earlier this year in Indian Wells comfortably and this set looked very similar to that match. Ruud wasn't going to go out without a fight, so he responded very well in the second set.
The crucial difference in the second set was Ruud playing the crucial rallies better. Garin still played well and gave him some trouble, but overall, Ruud managed to outplay Garin in the crucial rallies saving all four break points he faced while using both Garin allowed him.
That was enough for the 6-2 turnaround, and that momentum carried Ruud in the final set as well. He opened with an early break and then added another break to take a 4-0 lead. Considering that the score was 1-2 in the second set, Ruud was on a 9-game streak at that time.
Garin snapped the streak but there was no stopping Ruud who comfortably cruised towards the finish line. The final score was 1-6 6-2 6-2 for Ruud who will face Arthur Fils next. Ruud is aiming to win big titles and the ATP 500 in Hamburg is a great chance to do that.
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