World No. 39 Francisco Cerundolo couldn’t hide his happiness after stunning Casper Ruud and clinching his first top-10 win in Bastad. Cerundolo, 23, produced a major upset on Wednesday as he defeated first-seed Ruud 6-4 3-6 7-5 to progress into the Bastad quarterfinal.
“I’m feeling amazing, I’m really happy,” Cerundolo said after the biggest victory of his career, per the ATP website. “It’s amazing getting my first Top 10 win. It’s been the best year so far in my career.
He’s a French Open finalist and was the defending champion here, so it was a big challenge for me and I’m happy to go through.” Cerundolo entered the match with an aggressive mindset and it apid off as he was able to shock 2021 Bastad champion Ruud.
“I think the key was to be offensive and try to dictate the point,” Cerundolo added. “Playing intelligently with my forehand and trying to put him on defence. It’s always tough to beat the best players.
I got tight at the end, but I stayed there and got the ball in, and I’m really happy”.
Cerundolo overcame Ruud in three sets
The first break points were seen in the seventh game, when Cerundolo broke Ruud for a 4-3 lead.
After earning the first break of the match, Cerundolo held on to his serve the rest of the set to win the opener. Ruud bounced back from losing the second set, having broken Cerundolo in the sixth game of the second set to open a 4-2 lead.
Ruud missed out two consecutive set points on Cerundolo’s serve in the eighth game but routinely served out for the second set in the ninth game. In the third set, Cerundolo claimed the first break in the sixth game but Ruud broke back in the following game.
Blowing his first break of the third set didn’t impact Cerundolo, who broke Ruud again in the 12th game – when the Norwegian was serving to stay in the match. Cerundolo plays next Aslan Karatsev.
