Casper Ruud played his first match since the Bastad Open final, and it proved a struggle though a winning one for the Norwegian number one.
It was the start of Ruud's Hamburg Open campaign and it was a pretty tough one. He faced clay specialist Sebastian Baez, and the Argentinian gave him a lot of trouble forcing him to play three sets after a short turnaround from Bastad.
Ruud reached the final in the Swedish city but was beaten easily by Andrey Rublev, who also had a really rough first match in Hamburg. Rublev prevailed in three sets, and Ruud did too. The first one was very competitive. Both players were broken, but it was quite evident that Ruud was the better player.
Baez, as a very streaky player, had his moments, but for the most part, Ruud was on top, and he used two of the six break points he had to take the opening set 6-3. The second set was a stunning comeback from Baez, who obliterated the ball in fabulous fashion.
6-1 in 37 minutes was a statement sent however, Ruud looked the other way. He came out determined to win the match, and while the Norwegian created early break points, it was only at 3-2 that he broke for 4-2. Didn't matter much as Baez would break back immediately to further extend Ruud's misery.
Tensions were rising as the South American needed no invitation to keep things firing on all cylinders. Eventually, Ruud still broke for the 5-3 lead, and closed it out 6-3 in the final set. The final score was 6-3 1-6 6-3 for Ruud, who flirted with a loss here.
He need to work really hard to get it done but he did it moving on to the second round where he'll play Cristian Garin.
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